Unveiling
by Narfec
Summary: A new foe arises, willing to go to any lengths to prove his superiority over Batman. However, the Dark Knight's struggle to survive is complicated by his growing affections for a certain ally.
1. Interrogation

"Listen, lady. It's nothin' personal. Just business, ya see. But you know, you and yer boyfriend over there should've known better than to be snoopin' around the docks at this time of night. Bad things happen to people to like you around here at this time of night. But stay quiet, and the two o' you'll make it home just fine."

Two men wearing thick coats were standing outside of a large shipping crate in the Gotham shipyard. The first, a rather small and mousey-looking man, was leaning against the crate and calmly sipping coffee. The second, a tall, bald man, had just finished binding the wrists of a lean, beautiful woman with jet black hair that fell to her waist, and was placing her on the ground in front of the crate next to a muscular man with blonde hair, a scruffy beard, and icy blue eyes.

"Come on, Vic. You know we gotta kill 'em." The smaller man said, tossing his empty styrofoam cup onto the ground. "Boss says we get rid of anyone we see. Nobody knows we were here."

"Aw, come on, Ricky," the bald man replied. "I was just jerkin' 'em around a bit."

"What's so important about what you've got in there?" The blonde man asked, shifting as much as he could to get a better look at the crate.

"Shut it, prettyboy!" The small man ran over to the blonde, kicking him as hard as he could. "Any more questions, and you're as good as dead, hear me?" The blonde man curled up in pain, but gave an affirmative grunt. "Good. I'm glad we've got that settled away, then." He chuckled to himself and turned to his bald cohort. "Right, now down to business. We check the shipment, get it to the drop, and we're done. Easy money. Let's go." He opened the container and vanished inside, followed by his companion.

The woman adjusted her position, doing her best to help the blonde man sit up with her hands tied. Once he was upright, she leaned in to whisper in his ear. "Now?"

"Not yet, Diana." He whispered in a low voice.

"What are you waiting for, she hissed.

"We need to know exactly what they're after in there." He said tensely, his eyes closed in concentration. He waited until he heard the telltale creak of the lid being pulled off of a crate. "We move now!"

In a second, the woman had effortlessly snapped her bonds and launched herself through air into the crate, tackling the larger of the two crooks, who fell unconscious immediately. The blonde man wasn't far behind, his own ropes having fallen to the ground as though of their own accord. He charged after Diana, darting behind the smaller man, and wrapping an arm around his neck, placing him in a firm sleeper hold. The man struggled for several seconds, but fell silent all the same.

"Not bad, Bruce." Diana said, dusting off her hands. "I'll never understand how you do that without landing a punch."

"Blood choke." Said Bruce shortly, pulling off his wig and fake beard to reveal jet black hair and a powerful chin. "It cuts off blood to the brain. If done right, it can take effect in seconds without any oxygen deprivation."

"Alright, but what are we looking for? These two seem like a couple of small-time crooks."

"Yes and no. My intel says that they work for Carmine Falcone's shipping company. Being the head of one of the two leading mob families in Gotham, Falcone doesn't do much legitimate business."

"So... You think these two have mob ties?"

"I know that they do. But that's not why we're here. I'm interested in that crate because whatever is in it what purchased through Arkham Asylum."

Diana scrunched her forehead and folded her arms. "So you think one of the inmates could be ordering contraband through Falcone?"

"I'd have to be a fool to ignore the possibility." Said Bruce, approaching the wooden crate. "And I'm no fool." He grabbed the lid and yanked it off, tossing it to the ground.

"What is it?" Diana asked, curiously walking up behind him. "Is it weapons? Drugs?"

"It's drugs, alright. But we're not talking about heroin or cocaine."

"Well... What is it, then?"

Bruce lifted a bag of liquid and carefully examined it. This is sodium pentothal. It looks like assorted truth serums... And other psychoactive drugs."

"So... What does that mean?"

"It means... That it's time for me to have another chat with the delivery boys over there." He said, gesturing towards the two unconscious men on the floor.

The pair of them exited the crate, moving towards a car parked nearby. Bruce opened the passenger side door in the backseat for Diana, and followed her inside. Protected by the blacked out windows, they began to undress. Diana pulled off her skirt and blouse, revealing her Wonder Woman costume underneath, while Bruce pulled off his jeans and sweater, replacing them his Batman suit.

"So... The usual?" Diana asked.

"I think it should be more than enough."

"Which one do think we'll have better luck with?" She said casually, as though they were talking about the weather.

"The smaller one will be easier to break. Besides, the big guy's just muscle. Probably doesn't know anything anyway." Bruce responded, pulling his cowl over his face. "Meet you on that rooftop. Diana nodded in agreement, and went to retrieve the smaller of the thugs. She grabbed him by the ankle, and flew to the rooftop that Batman was waiting on, where she unceremoniously tossed him.

Batman reached into one of the pouches on his belt and pulled out a small handful of smelling salts, which he waved under the criminal's nose. As soon as the man began to wake up, Batman grabbed him by the throat with one hand and dangled him over the edge of the building.

"Today just isn't your day, is it?" Wonder Woman asked from behind Batman, absently tossing and catching a rather large rock in her hand.

"What the hell do you two want? I haven't done nothin' yet! Nothin'!"

Batman leaned in so close that he could see every bead of sweat on the thug's face. "You're lying about that... But we'll get to that. Right now, I want to know more about that crate." Batman knew he'd struck gold; all of the color immediately drained from the thug's face. Batman continued to press his advantage. "Do you know what's in that box, Ricky?" Ricky frantically shook his head. "Bad things, Ricky. Very bad things. And I need to know who's buying those bad things, or I might just have to take it out on you."

"I swear, I don't know nothin' about what's in there! They tell us not too look, it's need to know. I've got a list of chemical-things so we can make sure that it's all there, and that's it. I'm just the messenger, honest!"

Batman sighed. "Alright, here's how this is going to work. I'm not a patient person, and I'm busy. So I'm going to give you five more seconds to talk before you end up spending the next six months in a body cast." Ricky's eyes widened in fear. "Five more seconds, and make sure to track you down as soon as you heal and make sure you get another six months. After fifteen seconds, you won't even make it to the hospital. Sound fair?"

Ricky looked at Wonder Woman, clearly hoping for benevolence. She responded by tossing the rock and catching it one more time before crushing it into powder with one hand. Ricky gulped. "Alright, I get it. All I know is that we take this to the Asylum, and get a ton of cash for keepin' quiet about it."

Batman loosened his grip momentarily, threatening to send the thug plummeting over the edge of the building. "Who picks up the shipments?"

Ricky squirmed in Batman's vice-like grip. "I dunno, I swear! I've never made the trip before! Falcone sends different guys every time. Whoever's buying the stuff pays a ton to keep things quiet. Now please, let me go!"

"Not likely."

"No, wait! Please, Don't-"

Batman released his grip completely. Ricky screamed in terror as he was sent tumbling towards the Earth, stopped only by the thin cable that Batman had wrapped around his leg and connected to the edge of the building at the last second. He struggled to right himself in midair for a moment, before the the sudden rush of blood to his head rendered him unconscious once again.

"So... we still have time for a late dinner?" Wonder Woman asked conversationally.

"Can't. I need to follow up on this."

"Follow up on what? It looks like a dead end. They couldn't tell us anything useful. And besides, those chemicals could have medicinal purposes. It is a hospital, after all."

"True. Most of these chemical do have psychiatric applications... But not in these doses. Besides, he did tell us something. Somebody is going to enormous lengths to keep those chemicals on the down-low. They were hidden deep in the asylum's budget- the only reason that I could even find them is because I keep a strict eye on the Asylum whenever Joker's in there. And to cap it all of, some these chemicals are awfully familiar. I noticed compounds from Joker's laughing gas and The Scarecrow's fear toxin. The bottom line is I need to get to the bottom of this. The sooner the better. If either the Scarecrow or the Joker are involved in any way, then there's no time to wait."

"Then I guess I'll just tag along... Seeing as my dinner plans seem have fallen through." Wonder Woman said with an edge of bitterness in her voice.

"Negative. Arkham's a hellhole of supervillain scum, but as long as they're locked up, I'll be alright." He opened the metal covering on his left gauntlet, revealing a built-in computer and keyboard. He tapped several buttons to summon the Batmobile. "I just need to have a word with a few of them. Somebody's going through channels to get those chemicals, and this matches Joker's M.O."

"Does that building even have a security system? It seems like the inmates are out more than they're in at that place..."

"There isn't a security system in existence today that could contain the Joker when he has his mind set on escaping."

"And you're sure that you don't need any backup?"

"Positive." Batman said as the Batmobile skidded around a corner and into view. "I'll be in and out of there in no time." He opened the hood of the car and jumped in.

"If you're sure, then. I guess it's just as well, Arkham always gave me the creeps anyway." She began to hover in the air next to the Batmobile. "And if you're as quick as you say you will be, then we just might have a bit of time when you get back tonight. She snuck in to plant a kiss on his cheek before flying away.

Batman closed the the lid of the Batmobile and took a moment to gather his thoughts. "Don't count on it, Princess." He muttered to himself before punching the gas and speeding off into the setting sun.

Author's Note: Maybe not what some of you were expecting me to do next, but here it is. My other story's going to be on the bench for a little while longer. On the bright side, I've got some things in mind that I hope you might like anyway. If not, then I guess I'm sorry, but this should be a bit easier to write, what with a more fluid canon to work with.

Now... I'm diving right in here. Things are going to pick up real fast, I can guarantee.

Also, I feel like this title kind of sucks. Feel free to contact me at any point if you happen to have a better one.


	2. Surprise

Author's Note: Play the theme song here. Hum it if you have to, but get it done. IT'S ESSENTIAL!

"Alfred, can you hear me?" Batman set the Batmobile's autopilot on course for Arkham Asylum and activated his comm link to the Batcave.

"Loud and clear, Sir. I take it that you've made plans for yourself this evening?" Replied the professional and firm voice of Bruce Wayne's faithful butler.

"As it happens, I have, Alfred. I'm taking a trip to Arkham to have a little chat with the Joker and the Scarecrow."

"Is there nothing that you won't do to avoid a proper social life?" Said Alfred stiffly. "I'll access the recent patient reports for Mr. Crane and the Joker and have them transferred to you immediately."

"Thanks, Alfred. Call Oracle and get her on the line. I need to her take a look at the chemicals we found and see what kinds of compounds can be formed."

"No need, Bruce, I'm already here." The voice of a young woman joined the conversation; Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl who had been paralyzed from the waist down by the Joker and now aided Batman from her headquarters in the Gotham City Clock Tower. "What do you need? 

"We managed to intercept the shipment. I'm sending an inventory list of the chemical compounds that we found in the shipping container. I need a full analysis on the compounds that could be made with them."

"I knew you'd be able to do it. Anything interesting happen?" Oracle asked pointedly.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb, Bruce. I can practically smell the pheromones that you two give off from he- Oh, no... This really is bad... _This_ was on it's way to Arkham Island?"

"So I take it that you're seeming the same patterns that I am?" Batman said grimly.

"I can tell you right now that nothing good can come mixing these chemicals. Probably nothing legal, for that matter."

"Diana took the shipment back to the watchtower. Have J'onn transport you up if you need samples. I'm at the Asylum. I'll get back to you later."

Batman closed the connection and resumed control of the Batmobile just in time to swerve to a halt directly in front of the Intensive Treatment building. He opened the roof and jumped out of the car, storming through the entrance to the building. He marched directly up to the front desk, wearing his most pronounced scowl.

"I want to see the Scarecrow. NOW." He growled at the orderly, who nearly jumped out of his skin.

"I'm sorry, sir, But M-Mr. Crane is in isolation because of an incident last month. N-no visitors." The orderly stood stock still for a moment, attempting to gauge Batman's reaction. The Dark Knight glowered for a moment, before reaching into his belt and pulling out a memory card. He slammed it down on the table, causing the orderly to jump half a foot in the air.

"I want complete security footage from his cell's camera. I'll expect it by the time I'm finished with the Joker."

"The J-Joker? Hold on, he's a high security prisoner! I don't think you can just-" Batman ignored the orderly's protests and had vanished before he could complete a sentence.

The Joker was lounging on the bed in his cell, laughing at the ceiling to pass the time when Batman appeared out of thin air outside of his glass door.

"Well, well, well..." Joker chuckled. "If it isn't my bestest friend in the world, the Batman! You wouldn't believe how long it's been since I've had a visitor! Well, Harley stopped by to hump the glass for about ten minutes before they locked her up again, but if I'm being honest, I find you much more entertaining." He grinned devilishly and jumped off the bed, pulling up a chair in front of the glass. "So, Bats, what do want want to talk about? I'm all ears."

"Save it. I know about the chemical shipments that you've been sneaking in."

"_Me?_" The Joker sputtered in mock indignation. "Well I _never._ Would I do such a thing?" He let out a mad giggle.

"There were chemicals from your toxin, on their way here. I want to know why."

"You forgot the magic word, BatBrain! Would it kill you to be polite for once? You know... You might even learn something!" He finished, barely bothering to conceal the mischievous gleam in his eye.

"You're planning something." Batman growled. "And mark my words, I will find out what."

"Not this time, Bats." The Joker rubbed his hands together. "This time, _I'm_ not planning anything. I'm just the... Entertainment." He let loose a mad cackle.

Batman looked around, realizing his error just a second too late. A small canister fell from the ceiling and landed at his feet. He tried to jump away, but before he could, the canister began to emit a huge cloud of thick, purple gas that filled the entire corridor. As his vision faded, Batman heard the Joker's cell door slide open, and the sound of boots marching down the hall. He heard the sound of guns clicking, and he felt the Joker's pointed shoe connect with his face. Mad laughter and hands grabbing him under the shoulder were the last things he remembered as he faded into semi-conciousness.

Author's Note: Hm. I wonder what's going on here? Anybody have predictions? Want to guess who's speaking in the summary? Remember, I love a review. So questions, criticisms, or corrections, send 'em my way. The next update should be up pretty soon.


	3. Invasion

When Batman regained full consciousness, he found himself lying facedown in a cell in the penitentiary. He groaned weakly and tried to push himself up, only to find that his hands were being held behind his back by a pair of thick handcuffs that covered both of his fists, rendering his hands completely immobile. He shook his head, then rolled onto his back. As soon as his head had cleared enough, he lifted his legs and flung them forward, using the leverage to get himself into a standing position. After observing his surroundings, he decided on the best course of action.

"Activate emergency escape protocol number six."

He felt the spikes on his gauntlets snap outwards, breaking the handcuffs from the inside. He rubbed his wrists for a moment to return blood flow to his hands before pressing a finger to his temple, activating his comms link.

"Oracle. Can you hear me?"

"Bruce! Thank God! The vitals readings from your suit have been all over the place for the last hour and a half! And when you didn't respond, I thought..."

"I'm fine. Joker got the drop on me. He must've had someone plant a remote smoke bomb. He's loose."

Barbara groaned. "Of course he is. This is going to be one hell of a night... Apparently there was some kind of situation at the Watchtower. J'onn's been trying to get through to you."

"What's going on up there?

"I'm not really sure, I didn't get the whole picture. Hang on, I'll patch J'onn in."

Batman heard the sound of frantic typing, and the slight buzz of new radio static. "Batman. Is that you?" Asked the ever calm and measured voice of J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter.

"I'm here. What's going on up there?"

"We were attacked. I... It's best if I simply show you. I shall send you the footage from the docking bay's security cameras."

Batman opened the computer in his gauntlet and entered the command to receive the footage. All of the League members had gathered in the hangar, and it was immediately apparent why; sirens were blaring, and each screen displayed a message about approaching invaders. As the second door of the airlock opened, a small plane passed through, landing neatly. Before it had even rolled to a stop, five men had jumped out of the hatch with submachine guns drawn. Each of the intruders was equipped with black combat armor (printed with a large white T) and masks that covered the lower halves of their faces. The man in front was wearing a bright red vest to indicate seniority. He ran directly for J'onn, muttering into an earpiece as he went.

"Have the room cleared. Now! The intruder barked in a firm, authoritative voice.

Wonder Woman stepped forward to confront him. "Excuse me," she growled, folding her arms, "but you're not in any position to be giving orders. By my count, we outnumber you fifteen to one. Now we demand to know how you got in here!"

The guard whispered something that was too quiet for most of the room to hear, but it clearly had a strong impact on J'onn. The Martian dropped his fighting stand and raised a hand, ordering everybody in the room to stand down. "All non founding members are to leave the room immediately. Thank you for your cooperation."

With a great deal of muttering, the room steadily emptied, leaving only J'onn, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, and Shayera Hol. As soon as the rest of the League had cleared out, J'onn spoke again, with anger in his voice. "Show your evidence."

The intruder stepped forward to access the Hangar's monitor. After several moments of typing, he pulled up a camera feed. It showed several men wearing the same uniform as the men who had broken into the tower dragging a half conscious Batman down a hallway, his hands cuffed and four guns pointed directly at his head.

"You're coming with us, or I send the other to pull the trigger. Make your call."

One by one, the Justice League stepped forward to be cuffed and loaded into the ship. Superman looked exceptionally grave, Green Lantern seemed to be lost in thought, Shayera and the Flash both looked stunned, and Wonder Woman looked as though she was having a hard time holding back from wringing the guards neck. When J'onn stepped forward, the intruder held up a hand to stop him. "Not so fast, Martian. Orders say to leave you here. And remember; if we see you or anybody else following us, we kill the hostage." Without another word, the intruders piled back into their aircraft.

Batman closed his gauntlet and stood still for a moment. He couldn't believe that he'd been caught so easily in the first place; now his incompetence had cost the entire team. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, focusing on formulating a solution.

"Bruce, it wasn't your fault." Oracle said, sounding concerned. "There was no way you could have-"

"It was stupid and careless. Now it's down to me to fix this. J'onn, can you tell me anything about those intruders?"

"Not much. They appeared to be some sort of paramilitary group. Most likely Private Contractors. I tried to read their minds, but I couldn't."

"You mean you were blocked? Like with the Thanagarians?" Batman asked, trying to make some sort of connection.

"Not exactly. I could read his mind, but only when he spoke. It was as if he were a blank slate."

"Definitely odd. I'm going to run this down from my end. There's no way that the Joker isn't involved in this. I'm going to track him down."

"Good plan." Responded J'onn. "I'll do what I can from up here. Contact me if you need anything."

"Alright, Bruce." Oracle said, steeling herself. "What's the plan. You think Joker's behind this?"

"No. He said something about being tonight's 'entertainment.' And besides, even his pockets aren't that deep. Mercenaries and space ships don't come cheap. The Joker's got some muscle, but there's no way he could have got his hands on that kind of cash with me watching his every move. I think he's working with somebody. He almost definitely has somebody on the staff on his payroll. The first step is to find out where he's holed up." He walked over to take a closer look at the security gate. "Oracle. My security override code isn't working. Can you get on the system and unlock it from there?"

"I can give it a shot... Yes! Got it!" The door swung open, and Batman jumped out, immediately taking cover in the shadows. "Alright, Bruce. Where are you going next?"

"I'm not sure yet. I'll activate the cowl's scanner and see if I can't find somebody who'll rat him out." Batman grimaced and cracked his knuckles. "It's been a rough night, and I'd love nothing better to take it out on someone."

Author's note: I wrote and rewrote this one, so it might be a bit choppy. If you see any inconsistencies, drop me a line and I'll get right on them.

This was supposed to be longer, but it's 4 Am, I have class tomorrow, and I hit my 1,000 word minimum, so what the hell. I wasn't planning on posting until Friday at the earliest anyway. I left a lot of hints here, but everything will probably be revealed in the next chapter. Well, not everything, but you get the idea. Now for my favorite game: review responses!

M2J MandalorianJedi: Trust me, it's no coincidence. I'm pulling a ton from the Arkham series, mostly because it does an excellent job of showing the tools in Batman's inventory, as well as how he operates in the field. In fact, I had the game in mind while writing Oracle and Alfred. So good eye, and keep an eye out for more because I'll definitely be throwing out a nod to the series every now and then.

Unleash the Shadow: That ego, always getting him into trouble. But then again, bringing her could have just meant one more gassed super hero. But anyway, things are definitely serious.


	4. Scare Tactics

Author's Note: I'm going to save myself a little bit of trouble and use the Arkham Asylum video game layout for the remainder of the chapters that'll take place in the asylum. Just a reminder, at the moment, we're in the penitentiary, in the part of the main cell block room with the electrified floors. Just a reference for those of you who've played the game. And for those who haven't... How do you sleep at night?

Batman easily made it out of the building, as it was completely abandoned. "Oracle. This building's empty. I'm heading outside to see if I can find anybody. I need you to reroute a satellite and see if you can pick up on anything unusual."

"Alright, I just need a minute... Got it! Satellite images show tangos in the guard towers, probably snipers. I'm also seeing some strange thermal activity readings coming off of the medical facility."

"Right, then that's where I'm headed."

"Be careful, and keep a low profile. These guys are armed well."

Batman lowered his body and slowly began to army crawl his way across the grounds to the medical facility. He managed to make it to the door without being spotted; when he was sure the way was clear, he cautiously opened it and slipped inside.

He immediately picked up on the signs of a recent struggle in the entrance hall; papers and folders were scattered over the floor, and all the desks were knocked over. Still being careful not to make a sound, Batman opened the door to the next room. It was large and open, with a fenced balcony around the perimeter of the room separating two floors. Four armed men were patrolling, all on the top floor.

"Bingo." he whispered.

"Did you find them?" Oracle asked, sounding excited.

"No, but I've definitely got some sort of lead here. There are men patrolling in the Sanatorium. Armed guards means I'm probably getting close. But... Wait a second, these guys aren't mercenaries." Upon closer inspection, the Dark Knight could see that the uniforms that the men wearing didn't match what he'd seen on the Watchtower's camera. In contrast with the sleek, sharp uniforms of the Watchtower's invaders, these men were all wearing ragged clothes and clown masks. "This is odd... They're Joker's men. Definitely not professionally trained. It looks like they don't even know how to hold their weapons properly. Most likely they're just gang members."

"How on Earth did Joker get his gang on Arkham Island? No way they could've gotten through security, never mind carrying guns!"

"I'm not sure yet... Just one more question to ask whoever I can get my hands on. I'll be in contact as soon as I can."

He silently slipped through the door, ending up directly behind one of the thugs. Batman reached around the man's head to cover his mouth, and applied a firm pressure to the man's throat until he passed out. Batman heaved the unconscious body onto his shoulder and stealthily made for the lower floor. He dumped the body on the balcony, and hung under the fence by his fingertips.

He didn't have to wait long until one of the other goons spotted the body and came to check it out. As soon as he got close enough, but before he could call for reinforcements, Batman reached over the balcony, grabbing the man by the back of his head and slamming his forehead, knocking him unconscious. The noise of bone on metal and the man's subsequent fall attracted the attention of the final two guards. As they rushed down to the second floor from opposite sides of the room, Batman closed in on one from behind, knocking him out with a blow to the head. He then turned his attention to the final thug, who was approaching the unconscious body of the goon that had been tossed over the edge. Batman climbed up on the railing and dove down, landing with his boot on the man's chest, effectively winding the man.

"Scream. I dare you." Batman growled in his most threatening voice.

"W-w-what do you want from m-me?" The thug whimpered.

"It's been a rough night. What I really want is to hurt you... Badly."

"NO! I'll do anything!"

"I want to know what's going on. ALL OF IT!" Batman barked.

"I don't know, we're just supposed to make sure that n-nobody gets through, they d-don't tell us anything."

"How did you get here?"

"Joker c-called and gave us an address about a week ago, some Arkham vans came, and dropped us off here. We've been hiding out in the sewers until Joker g-gave the signal about two hours ago."

"What are you guarding?"

"I swear to God, I don't know anything!"

Batman brutally lifted the man off the floor, holding him by his neck. "God might believe you... But I don't. Tell me what's in there. Now. Or I'll give you a reason to be grateful that you're already in a medical facility."

"There were five huge boxes that came through a while back." The criminal wheezed, beginning to hyperventilate. "I c-couldn't see what was in them. Please, just d-don't hurt me."

"Where did they go?"

"Wh-wha-?"

"THE DAMN BOXES." Batman growled, sending spit flying at the man's face. "WHERE DID THEY TAKE THE BOXES?"

"Oh God, oh god, I didn't see which way they went!" The thug sobbed."I just heard Joker and some other guys going in the elevator, talking about the morgue!" The man squirmed pitifully, doing his best to cover his face.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Batman gently lowered the now confused man to the ground. The thug continued to stare in awe until Batman smashed a gloved fist into the side of the man's neck, instantly knocking him out.

"Did you get all of that, Oracle?"

"Yeah. You think the League is in those boxes?"

"It would seem likely, but It's impossible to say for sure with the Joker. It could just be a diversion."

"So are you going to follow them to the morgue?"

"If you can think of a better option, feel free to share."

At that moment, the tone that signaled the intercom activating sounded, and Joker's voice came over the speakers. It's awfully quiet up there... And do I smell urine?" Joker sighed. "I guess that could mean two things... Either you blithering idiots aren't toilet trained, or the Bat's a'snoopin'. My bets on both, actually. If you're in there Bats... Piss off! You're early!"

Oracle groaned. "I guess not. I don't like this at all, though. There has to be some sort of trap. It's never this easy with the Joker. Maybe I should send Robin in for backup?"

"No. He's too brash, he'll get himself killed."

"Nightwing then?"

"Not yet. Have him standby. _Do not_ send him in without my signal."

"Alright, if you're sure."

"I am. I'm going to get moving."

"Stay sharp, Bruce."

Batman climbed up on the ledge and examined the elevator. Deciding against entering the elevator where he could easily be trapped, he spotted a ventilation shaft on the wall. He grabbed it, and pulled as hard as he could, yanking it clean off it's screws. He climbed into the shaft, and followed it until it dropped. He attached a line to the edge and rappelled down, landing neatly behind another grate. Placing a boot against it, he applied steady pressure until it too popped off it's screws. He'd barely managed to crawl out of the vent, when a bright spotlight shone on him. The Joker was standing directly in front of him, protected by a metal gate.

"You're getting too predictable, Batsy, old boy!" The Joker cackled. "Still, five minutes ahead of the estimated time, that's something, I guess. Ooh, you look angry! I take it you've heard about the little fiasco at that base of yours?"

"I'm not messing around, Joker. Who's calling the shots here?"

"Oh, Bats, you crazy fool. Always trying to spoil the surprise! Well not this time."

Batman realized that he was getting nowhere, and time was of the essence. "Fine. What did you do with the League? Tell me while you can still talk."

"No need to get so serious on me, Bat-guano! It's no secret! Rest assured that your chums are safe and sound with a mutual friend of ours. I believe you know a Dr. Edward Nigma? From what I hear, their treatment isn't going very smoothly..." He let out a quiet, sinister giggle.

"Where?" Batman growled furiously.

"A 'please' wouldn't go amiss here and there, you know..."

Batman bared his teeth and let out his most vicious growl.

"Ok! I guess not then! Try the facilities North of the Sanatorium. Maybe then we'll be ready for you... Now be a good little Bat and play nice!" The Joker laughed wildly and turned around and left.

Batman began to make his way back up the ventilation shaft. "Oracle."

"Yeah, I heard. This is bad. Knowing the Riddler, this is going to be tricky."

"It's not the Riddler that I'm worried about." Batman said grimly as he approached the door at the North end of the Sanatorium.

Author's Note: I had a bit of a tough time with this one, mostly because I _really _suck at describing locations. Half of the time I just forget to do it completely.

There was going to be more, but I think i'll be able to split this one and still have enough for another. So expect more tomorrow or the day after, because I'm trying to keep a brisk pace here, and I should have some time over the next couple of days.

Boredoclover: There we go, fix'd. And no Justice League adventure is truly complete without the JLU theme.

Unleash the shadow: No need to worry, as long as there is vengeance to be done, and ass to be kicked, the Batman has no time for guilt trips.

RKF22: I'll do my best, but I have a really bad habit of just dropping a project. Probably best to warn you guys now. But I'm enjoying this one, and not having too much trouble with creative blocking, so I wouldn't worry about that just yet.


	5. Riddle Me This?

Author's note: This is going to be a really rough start. Just a heads up. But if you stick around, you'll finally get a glimpse of our criminal mastermind.

Batman yanked open the door to the Upper Corridor of the medical facility; the corridor split off into two separate hallways. The hallway that continued straight to the X-ray room had a yellow line painted on the floor; the hall on the left that branched off to the surgery and patient observation had red and blue lines to indicate the path to their respective rooms. Both hallways had been painted with lime green question marks scribbled on the walls and ceiling. On a desk in front of the door was a particularly large question mark, with an earwig placed in the center. Batman cautiously lifted his cowl, and placed it in his unoccupied ear. No sooner had he inserted it, then a condescending sing-song voice spoke into his ear.

"Greetings, Dark Knight Detective. Are you ready for another game of cat and mouse?"

"Save it, Riddler. I've got better things to do than play games with you." Batman snarled.

"Oh, but you'll take up my challenge, or your friends will die. And remember, you do this alone. No, communications, no cheating. If anybody contacts you, I'll know about it. Now... All you need to do to start is walk straight down the yellow line to the X-ray room. You can manage that, can't you?"

Batman sprinted down the long hallway, all too aware of the security cameras following his every move. When he reached the end, he pulled open the doorway. The entire room was covered in the same hastily scrawled green question marks that adorned the hallways. Batman's eyes were immediately drawn to the center of the room, where a small steel cage had be set up. Locked inside were Green Lantern and Shayera Hol; both were unconscious, and had been tossed carelessly in a heap on the floor.

"Now... The real puzzle begins. I've set up three bombs in this room; when they go off, they'll release enough carbon monoxide to kill you and your friends ten times over. To solve the puzzle, you need to find and disarm them all... You have three minutes, starting... NOW!"

Batman ran to the cage; as soon as he'd confirmed that John and Shayera's vitals were stable, he retrieved his lock-picking tools and when to work on trying to open it. However, he'd barely inserted the pick when a shock issued from the cage, forcing him away.

"Not today, Batman!" The Riddler scoffed. "Cheating will earn you a one minute penalty! You'd better hurry!"

Batman swore and charged into action. He noticed quickly that a grate on one of the wall fans had been recently replaced. He ripped the grate off the wall, revealing the bomb. Analyzing and disarming the bomb was simple enough, taking only about twenty seconds. He quickly scanned the room, noticing scratch marks on the floor in front of the radiator. He found the bomb behind it, disposing of it as quickly and easily as the first.

"Oho, not bad, Dark Knight! Maybe when we're done here you can help me find my car keys? But wait, I forgot! You're going to die in there! There's still one more bomb, and you still have a minute to fail. Show me your best shot, Dark Knight."

Batman's last sweep of the room led him to a desk littered with pictures of X-rays. Batman rummaged through the drawers, finding the final bomb in the bottom drawer.

"Very good, very good," the Riddler goaded. "But can you disarm it in the thirty seconds you have left to live? I wouldn't bet on it... Tick, tock, tick, tock..."

Batman carefully opened the bomb, and made to cut the first wire; he stopped short, noticing a wire that hadn't been present in the first two. It wrapped around itself, leading to deep within the bomb. Upon following it, Batman saw that it led to another bomb hidden behind the desk. By closely examining the make of the two bombs, he realized that the first bomb was a decoy, and that disarming it would trigger the second.

"Times running out Batman... What are you doing?" The Riddler shouted, beginning to sound agitated. "Disarm it, you monkey! You only have ten seconds, or they'll die with you! Five... How did you figure that out? You must have cheated, you can't be smarter than me... You'll see. Now. Get over to the surgery room!"

"I'm not leaving without them"

"You'll leave them, or I'll kill the rest right now." The Riddler barked.

Batman reluctantly left the room, following the yellow line back to the entrance to the Upper Corridor. He followed the red line to surgery, dreading what he'd find ahead. The room wasn't as bad as he'd expected; Superman and the Flash were unconscious and strapped by operating tables (Superman's bonds being infused with Kryptonite to keep him weak). Other than the Kryptonite, Batman couldn't see any immediate threats.

"Puzzled, Dark Knight? That's good! In order to survive this room, you'll need to solve one of my riddles! So, Batman... 'Can you stay one step ahead of this not so silent killer?' The clock's ticking, detective!" Accompanying his words, the gentle ticking of a watch issued from the earwig.

Batman closed his eyes in thought, analyzing the riddle from every angle. Suddenly, his eyes shot open. As quickly as he could, he ripped the device from his ear, tossing it out the door and slamming it shut. A large explosion issued from the hallway, blowing the corridor to pieces.

"NO, NO, NO!" The Riddler's voice shouted from the intercom. "YOU MUST BE CHEATING! YOU CAN'T BEAT ME! You'll see... I still have one more room left to- No! What are you doing?" Batman heard other voices and the sounds of heavy footsteps coming over the intercom. "Stop that!" The Riddler raved. "YOU'LL SPOIL THE PUZZLE, YOU INCOMPETENT STOOGES! I HAVE TO KNOW, AND HE CAN'T, CAN'T YOU BUFFOONS SEE? IF THERE'S NO SOLUTION TO THE PUZZLE, THEN I CAN'T WIN! YOU SIMPLETONS WILL PAY FOR- OOF!" The Riddler screamed as he was beaten down by an unseen force.

With few other options than to press forward, the Dark Knight made his way to the patient observation room. The sight that greeted him there was the most unwelcome yet; Batman could see through the glass window that the Riddler had set numerous traps for him, but those weren't what worried him. Wonder Woman was on the other side of the glass, visibly weakened just barely clinging to consciousness. She was being held up by her hair by a man that Batman didn't recognize. He was bald, but had a neat gray beard that ran from his temples to his chin. His pristine white lab coat and round eyeglasses that completely blocked his eyes gave him a rather sinister appearance. He was accompanied by the same five men that had invaded the Watchtower.

"Greetings." The man said in a pronounced German accent. His voice was deep, and would have almost been soothing under different circumstances. "I have been expecting you... Mr. Wayne."

Batman couldn't prevent his jaw from dropping slightly at the use of his given name. The villain grinned at his shock. "Oh, yes. I know. I know _all_ about you."

"Let her go. Right. Now." Batman growled.

"I do not fear you, Batman. You cannot intimidate me." The stranger said, slowly pulling a syringe filled with clear liquid from his pocket and holding it dangerously close to Diana's neck. "And you would be wise not to try."

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"We have much to discuss, Mr. Wayne. The details will be revealed soon enough."

"Fine, we can talk. Just let her go."

"Oh, no, Mr. Wayne." The man said, smiling his broad, sinister smile. "Do you take me for a fool? I know that you are most resourceful." He pointed at desk on Batman's side of the glass with the hand holding the syringe. "On that table is a syringe containing a powerful paralytic of my own design. You will inject yourself with it. Then, I will answer your questions. And you... You will answer some of mine."

"Why go through all the trouble? I was practically unconscious two hours ago."

"All of your questions will be answered if you come with me, Mr. Wayne."

"Suppose I do. You let them go? All of them?"

"But of course..."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I show you what I have in this syringe." The man said, moving in on Diana's neck again. "And I assure you, it will not be a pleasant death."

"N-no!" Diana said weakly.

"How do I know that you'll let them go?"

"You don't, of course. But rest assured that should you resist, they will all die. Very slowly, and very painfully."

"Alright. You win." Unable to think of another way out of the situation, Batman reached for the mechanized syringe on the desk. As he moved it towards his neck, he locked eyes with Diana.

"Don't." She mouthed, too weak to speak. Batman simply nodded at her, inserting the syringe and pulling the trigger. He felt his body relax instantly. The man knocked Wonder Woman unconscious with a blow to the side and dropped her to the floor.

"Escort our beautiful friend here from the grounds." The man ordered his guards. "The Batman and I have business to discuss..." He said, closing in on the now completely paralyzed Dark Knight.

Author's Note: No reviews to respond to this time... Woe is me. Oh well, I'll make the best of things and use the space to talk a bit about the future. I'm sure that many of you recognized our new foe; for those who don't, all will be revealed soon enough. The next chapter should answer a lot of questions. This chapter was a bit difficult, but I kind of like how it turned out. Or the ending, anyway. Things are going to get good soon. Also, I've been focused on Batman so far, but I'm going to be able to focus on some other characters soon enough. I guess that's all for now. Narf out.

I'm just going to say, this was a huge pain in the ass to upload. It's 5am, and here I am trying to find a workaround to post this because seems to be rejecting my documents. Ah well.


	6. Torment

Author's Note: This is where things get weird. I'm planning on going to some dark, scary places; it could get graphic. Just tell me if you think it deserves an M rating so I can change it if necessary. Now buckle up, this is going to be a long one.

Batman regained consciousness about ten minutes later. The first thing that he noticed was that he still couldn't move below his neck; it seemed that the paralytic was still in effect. Taking a closer look at his surroundings revealed that he was in the Asylum's Morgue, strapped securely to a patient transfer cart.

"I can see that you have awakened... Excellent. We are now ready to begin questioning." The kidnapper smiled his eerie smile as he stared at the cornered hero. "Although, I suppose that our little therapy session can wait just a little while. I believe that you have questions as well? Perhaps we can cooperate and teach each other?"

"Not likely." Batman growled. He surveyed the room again; he knew that as soon as the paralytic wore off, the cart wouldn't be able to contain him for more than a few seconds.

"Ah, I can see your mind working as we speak... Truly an awe to behold! No doubt you already have your escape halfway planned... But there is no escape. Not unless I say so. So you'd best make yourself comfortable. I think that I am being quite reasonable, am I not?"

"Where's the Asylum staff?" Batman asked, deciding that the best course of action would be to stall his captor, and maybe satiate his curiosity along the way.

"Safe, underground. There is no need to concern yourself with them right now."

"My name is Professor Hugo Strange. I have worked here for several years now, observing you. You see, Arkham has proven to be the perfect location from which to study you; interviews with the criminals that you apprehend have proven to be most... Enlightening to say the least. You see, I have have been watching you like a rat in a maze for months. I know everything about you. I know how you came to be what you are, and why you do what you do. However, you still manage to surprise me from time to time... Take tonight for example." Strange continued to stare at Batman, his smile fading slightly. "My plan to lure you here wasn't supposed to go into effect for several weeks. However, you intercepted my shipment and forced my hand early."

"So you're the Joker's inside man?" 

"Oh, on the contrary, my friend. I provided the Joker and the Riddler with manpower in return for their... Unique talents. You see, they were essential to my plan."

"You struck a bargain with the Joker?" Batman sneered. "He'll have killed you by morning."

"Again, you underestimate me. You see, I have promised him the one thing that is guaranteed to keep him in line: your life."

Batman laughed derisively. "So he kills me, fine. What's to stop him from turning on you? Joker's a rabid animal. You can't bargain with him."

"There is truth to your words. After you are dead, he will meet his own ends, for he is a criminal and a madman. His death would be a great service to the world."

"I could say the same about you."

"But you would be quite wrong. You see, intentions separate good from evil. I seek to better mankind. The case being so, could my actions truly be considered to be evil?"

"Yes. They could."

"I am sorry that that is how you choose to see things, although I can't say that I am surprised."

"Are you going to tell me why I'm here?" Batman snarled. "I'm losing my patience."

"It's quite simple, really. I lured you here simply to speak to you. To observe you directly."

"Why the setup then? I was knocked out hours ago. Why not then?"

"Elementary. First, capturing your friends allowed me to see you in action as you struggled to save them. I must say that you were quite impressive. At every turn, you have met or exceeded my expectations. Second, I have effectively neutralized the Justice League in one simple move. The Martian will not dare make his move to send reinforcements until he has made contact with the others; by then, my plans will be complete."

"How are you bankrolling this operation? I can't imagine that it's easy to pay for this on a psychiatrist's salary."

"As sharp as ever, I see." Strange said gleefully. "You see, before I joined the Arkham staff, I was involved in a Project Cadmus." For the second time that night, Batman's jaw dropped. "I see that you are familiar with my work?" Strange gloated. "You see, it was I who deduced your secret identity and sold it to Amanda Waller, earning my place as Cadmus' Senior Head of Psychological Research."

"So... Cadmus is involved in all of this? That doesn't add up. They wouldn't target me specifically. I'm one of the few in the League with no special powers. Besides. Cadmus was shut down."

"Correct on all accounts, of course. However, before the Project was shut down, I managed to store funds for my continued research. After Cadmus I was placed here at my request... In the perfect position to keep a close eye on you. The remaining money was more than enough to finance my research and hire the services of the Tyger Security Company. Although, I have since... Ahem, 'modified' them so that they no longer require payment."

"So how did you figure out who I am?"

"It was simple enough, really. I watched you closely, and I profiled you. I daresay that I know you better than you know yourself. Perhaps better than you wish to know yourself?"

"And you still want more."

"Very much so, Batman."

"Why?"

"Oh, I believe that I have answered more than enough of your questions... And now it is time for you to answer some of mine."

"Like I said earlier... It's not likely."

Strange grinned maliciously. "Your fearless resolve is most impressive. However, you seem to be laboring under the delusion that I am giving you the option. You see... Over the years, I have perfected many more... Effective methods of convincing unwilling souls to part with their secrets." Strange pulled a syringe from his pocket. "I think we shall begin with a dose of sodium pentothal. I believe that you are familiar with how it works?"

"It limits higher brain functions" Batman said grimly "such as lying."

"Very good, very good." Strange said as he inserted the syringe into Batman's neck and pushed the trigger. "Although, your mind being what it is, I suspect that you may need more... er... Persuasion. But no matter, we have all the time in the world. Make no mistake, you will break before me."

"Go to Hell, Strange."

"Hm. Very well, enough formalities. Tell me about your parents."

Batman could feel the drug working its way through his system; it would be so easy to just talk and talk forever... Secrets were so difficult...

Batman shook his head and refocused his mind; Strange wouldn't have his with him that easily.

"Resist all you want; it is hopeless. I will have the information that I seek, one way or another. You would be wise to speak now and save yourself a great deal of suffering and pain."

"Go to Hell."

"Very well." Strange said, preparing another syringe. "I doubt that another dose would do much better than the first, so you leave me no choice but to resort to more extreme measures." As soon Strange inserted the syringe into his neck, Batman felt his muscles seize; as the trigger was pushed, an incredibly painful burning sensation spread throughout his body, as though his veins were catching fire from the inside.

"How do you like my creation, Batman? It has proven to be quite useful with reluctant subjects. But still, I suspect that it would take much more than truth serum and a little bit of pain to convince you to speak freely? No matter. I have weakened your defenses, and now your micro-expressions will tell me all that I need to know. So... I believe that we were discussing your parents?" Strange said in a sickeningly happy tone. "They were kind, well-respected people... And excellent role models. They taught you well, didn't they? Your iron morals... They were the source. You cannot hide anything from me, Wayne."

Batman groaned, still battling the effects of the serums.

"However these very morals are flawed at their core. For all the courage that you display, there are lines that you will never cross. For example, you would never take a life... Even from the most vile and unrepentant criminals. Tell me... Why have you not killed the Joker? Imagine the bloodshed that you could have prevented!"

"I'm... no... executioner." Batman gasped, struggling to speak through his pain.

"That is the weakness that keeps you from true greatness. Perhaps a demonstration?" Strange approached the intercom, and flipped it on. "Captain; bring them in."

Within moments, the red-vested soldier from the Watchtower appeared in the doorway, escorting two male Arkham guards and a female doctor with dark red hair. All were blindfolded, bound, and gagged tightly.

"These people have been carefully selected to make my example." Strange said, slowly drawing closer to the first guard. "The lines between good and evil are not nearly as thin as you believe they are. Tell me, Batman, how many lives have you saved over the course of your career? Hundreds? Thousands? I doubt that there is a single soul in Gotham that doesn't owe you their life." Strange approached the first guard and drew a surgical knife from his pocket, smoothly slitting the man's throat.

Batman let out a grunt of shock and rage. "What... Are... You...?" He groaned, struggling as hard as he could to escape, despite the effects of the paralytic drug.

"I am making a point, Batman. I have selected each of these people because they are known throughout the staff as being kind, selfless people." Strange mercilessly ran his knife through the redheaded doctor's heart."Each of them is the single parent of a child who simply worships the ground that they walk on. He jammed the knife directly into the final man's neck, leaving it there as the man fell to the floor in a heap. "In executing them, I have planted the seeds for three more Batmen; possibly one who will have the courage to do what you never could; kill. Which brings me to my final point: is it possible that the man who killed your parents was indirectly responsible for all the good that you've done?" He revelled in the look of horror on Batman's face.

"You're a monster..." Batman gasped. "And... I will... Stop you."

"But you'll never kill me." Strange laughed. "And therein lies your problem. You aren't sure enough in your beliefs to take that final step. Just think of all the good that could come from killing a madman like the Joker!"

"Murder... Is murder."

"If you say so. Now... Let us move on. I'd like to take a bit of time to talk about your 'friends,' the Justice League. They are the closest things that you have to friends, I believe. In most cases, you insist on working alone, aside from the occasional adopted orphan. However, you play a core role in the Justice League. Why?"

"We can do more good... Urgh... As a team."

"A point that contradicts all that you have indicated in the past. Perhaps it's not too late for you to change. Perhaps there is hope for you?"

"Piss. Off."

"Am I getting too close to the truth? Let us explore further. What do you think is responsible for the change in your attitude? Perhaps Superman has inspired you? You feel a begrudging respect for him, do not? You respect him despite differing methods because you share a vision. A vision of a world where neither of you are necessary to protect it. Where you do not need to spend your entire lives fighting a losing battle."

"You're a bit... presumptuous in your... guesswork."

"Maybe so, but I am correct all the same. You do not enjoy being the Batman, do you? But you do it anyway, because you feel that you must. Despite the fact that it prevents you from certain other... Pleasures." His face twisted into an evil grin. Such is the curse of the Batman; eternal loneliness. He laughed viciously. "Let's discuss another of your friends from the Justice League... I believe that you know where I am going with this?"

"Shut. Up."

"Have I touched a raw nerve? It would appear that Wonder Woman is something of a soft spot." He strolled around the room, twiddling his thumbs as he went. "You know, she reminds me very much of Ms. Kyle. You cared for her too, did you not? But you rejected her out of sheer dedication. She is a criminal, and it was your sworn duty to apprehend her and bring her to justice. A pity, but duty is duty."

"I... Said... Shut. Up."

"But as luck would have it," Strange continued, "You seem to have met another woman with all of the qualities that you could possibly hope for; strength, loyalty, and independence. It bothered you, didn't it? To see her in the condition that she was in tonight? Broken, begging for mercy. You keep a watchful eye over her in battle, despite the fact that she is more than capable of doing so for herself. More so, I daresay than others such as the Flash. And yet, you constantly spurn her advances." He drew closer to Batman. "But why? Your excuses are void. But you still push away what could quite possibly be your only chance for love. Why?" He repeated, now only inches away from Batman's ear. "You don't even know, do you? I believe that I do. You know that you do not _deserve_ love. You _deserve_ misery. You failed to prevent the murder of your parents; you walked away, while their lives were ripped from their corpses. So you cope by torturing yourself every night, denying yourself even the most basic needs. Because you_ deserve to be miserable._"

Strange stood up straight and backed away again, a smug, satisfied expression on his face. "You know, through all my interviews with the inmates here, one subject was constant; they all know you as the man without fear. I have discussed the matter in particular with Dr. Krane, or the Scarecrow, as you may prefer to call him. We came to the conclusion that such a thing is not possible. We have deduced that no one can be completely immune to fear... Only particularly skilled in resisting and staving off its effects. Now... The question is, what happens when the dam collapses? When so much terror is induced that it can't be resisted? After all, the greater the height, the harder the fall." He retrieved a third and final syringe. "Dr. Crane rather graciously agreed to share the formula for his infamous fear-inducing toxin, with the promise that I would share my results with him. Of course, he too will have to die once his usefulness expires. Such a waste of a brilliant mind. But necessary all the same."

He inserted the syringe into Batman's neck, a look of terrifying anticipation evident on his face. "I can assure you, Batman, that the next few hours will be most unpleasant for you."

Author's Note: Whew. That was a doozy. Around four and a half solid hours, and clocking in at a staggering (by my standards, anyway) 2600 words. So consider this one a bit of a treat, being almost a double-chapter. It should be interesting to see where things go from here. I think this might be some of my best work so far, but I still might end up going back to edit: I had a lot of ideas for this one, and I'm not positive that I covered them all.

Just for the record, Hugo Strange actually was a member of Cadmus. He's sitting right next to Amanda Waller in the episode 'The Doomsday Sanction.' Cool stuff right there.

Migalouch: I'm really glad that you appreciate the references, I spent a ton of time poring over Arkham Asylum trying to pick the right buildings to use. And I loved the series' portrayal of the Riddler as an insane narcissist. It really does make more sense than a guy who just really likes questions.

Unleash the Shadow: Hugo Strange, in the flesh. No way that this can end well.

The Fiery Apprentice: I would say that it was the same substance that he used to knock out the rest of the League while he had them in captivity, just a low enough dosage that she would stay concisous. He knew that it would bug Batman to see her like that. The thing that makes Hugo Strange a great Batman villain is that he thinks like Batman: two steps ahead of everyone else. So he's played his hand, and he's had the advantage of weeks or months of planning. And my theory about why he never mentions Batman's secret identity in public in Arkham City is to make it easier to tie up loose ends: it's much harder to explain away that knowledge when it's distributed, you know?

I'm glad you appreciate the grammar. I put a lot of pride in it, but at the same time, I do a good portion of my writing well after midnight, so things tend to fall through the cracks. I think that I've got a good baseline for timing up; I've been keeping a steady pace of a chapter a day, which should hopefully continue for a bit.


	7. Rescue Mission

Author's Note: Didn't get any feedback about the content rating last time, so I'm just going to assume that we're all good in that department. Now... Shall we see what our friends are up to? Rhetorical. We're going to anyway.

Diana slowly opened her eyes and immediately slammed them shut again; the immense pain in her head forced her to the ground until she'd adjusted. She slowly opened her eyes again, forcing herself to focus through the pain. As soon she'd managed to get to her feet, she took a brief inventory of her surroundings. She was stranded on an abandoned rooftop in the slums of Gotham. Her Justice League counterparts were all stirring around her.

"Owwww..." The Flash moaned. "What'd we just do? Did we just party? Oh, wait, I remember now..." He scratched his head. "Sort of, anyway. What's going on here?"

"Good question." Green Lantern said solemnly. "Last thing I remember is being loaded onto that ship and being injected with some kind of drug. Anybody got anything else?"

"They... They have Bruce." Diana said slowly, memories flowing back to her. "At the Asylum."

"Yeah, that's why we went with them in the first place, remember?" Said Shayera.

"No. He must have escaped. He came after us and... He traded himself for us."

"He would do something stupid like that." Lantern groaned. "So now we're right back where we started. Batman captured, and now they'll be expecting us. We need a plan."

"Let's not be too hasty." Superman interjected, folding his arms. "Our comm links are missing, and we have no other way of contacting the Watchtower. We have to consider the fact that he's fine, too. He could've escaped. We have to be careful."

"You think he got away and just dumped us here?" Shayera asked.

"Sounds like something Bats would do, when you put it that way." The Flash quipped.

"This is no time for jokes." Wonder Woman said angrily. "He could be in serious trouble."

"Right, but it would be stupid to charge in when we don't know who we're up against. We need a baseline. Diana, do you know who did all of this?"

"No." Diana searched her memories as hard as she could, but came up empty. "I never heard his name or saw his face. All I know is that he had an accent. German, maybe?"

"It's a start." Superman scanned all of the nearby buildings with his X-ray vision, searching for a working clock. "It looks like we've been out for a while; four hours at the least. I say we head over to Wayne Manor. We can reestablish contact with the Watchtower from the Batcave, and see if Alfred knows anything that we don't."

"But what about Bruce?" Diana sputtered furiously. "If he's in danger, then-" 

"Then he wouldn't want us rushing in half-cocked and getting everybody killed." Superman said firmly, with a note of finality in his voice. "Batman's tough, Diana, he can hold out. But we need to do this by the way he would."

Diana bit her lip, but relented all the same. "Fine. But we move fast. I have a really bad feeling about this."

"Agreed." Superman said, flying off without another word, the rest of the League in tow.

The Flash was the first to reach the Manor, of course. He rapped on the door with supersonic speed, nearly knocking it in. Despite his enthusiastic knocking, there was no response.

"Uh-oh. That's not a good sign." He said to the rest of the League who had just caught up to him. "Looks like nobody's home."

"Then we go in anyway." Superman reached out an enormous hand, crushing the doorknob and breaking the lock. "After you." He held the door open for the rest of the team. Diana led the way to the clock in Bruce's study that concealed the Batcave, knocking hard three times. After a moment, the clock slid aside to reveal a rather worried looking bald man in his mid sixties.

"Master Bruce, is that yo- Oh. I'm glad to see that the rest of you are safe."

"So I take it that you haven't been in contact with Bruce recently either then?" Diana asked sadly.

"Unfortunately not. His communications systems went offline several hours ago. Oracle and I have done our best to make contact, but to no avail."

"I figured as much." Superman said, stepping forward. "Alfred, we need to get in contact with J'onn at the Watchtower. Can you help us out?"

"Of course, right this way." Alfred gestured for the group, and led them down into the bowels of the Batcave. "Master Bruce is quite prudent about keeping spares." He said, pulling open a drawer beneath Batman's computer that contained about ten extra earwigs.

"And they say that I'm the boyscout..." Superman muttered under his breath, inserting the earwig. "Superman to Watchtower. J'onn, can you hear me?"

"It is good to hear from you." Said the slow, dry voice of the Martian Manhunter. "Are the others with you?"

"All except for Batman. We think that he's still back at the Asylum."

"I wish that I could do more for you, but I have been unable to unable to establish telepathic contact with him."

"Then it's settled." Superman. "We go in there and we get him out."

"Excellent." Said Wonder Woman, cracking her knuckles. "Let's get going."

Author's Note: A bit short, but I've cut this chapter in half so there'll be more soon. Real soon. Like, two hours soon. So sit tight, I'm working hard to get that up. It should be done by the morning.

Unleash the Shadow: Oho, yes it is. Where it goes from here, even I don't know. Well... Sort of. We'll see.

The Fiery Apprentice: Funny, that's exactly what I was thinking. Although that does mean skipping ahead a few hours: Five hours of unconscious superheroes might be a bit dull. Sorry if it feels like I'm trying to cash out here, but there wasn't much that I could do for the fear toxin; it's an effect that's much more effectively portrayed through visual media than text. And I really gotta get me some of that sweet, sweet, new 52 action. That sounds familiar... I think there was a BTAS episode with a similar concept.

RFK22: I'm on a roll, hopefully I won't slow up anytime soon.


	8. Reunion

Author's Note: Here it is, as promised. This is another one that might get some edits, mostly for grammar purposes. But that's a job for another day.

Batman writhed on the table, struggling valiantly to fight the effects of the various toxins running through his system.

"Most remarkable, most remarkable indeed." Strange taunted, his distorted by the toxins. "I can only imagine what you are seeing right now... What is the great Batman afraid of? Oh, your reactions are most interesting indeed." Strange trembled with excitement. "Perhaps another dose? I think so..." He injected another syringe into Batman's neck, once again flooding his veins with the chemicals.

"Why do you continue to struggle, Wayne? Most men would have been driven to madness ten times over by now. And yet, you continue to resist. Give in to madness, Batman. It is the only escape."

"Ngh... NO! NO! GET... AWAY!"

"Suit yourself then, Mr. Wayne. You can suffer for as long as you would like." He paused to scratch his chin as though deep in thought. "I wonder where your friends are right now? They should have awakened some time ago... Perhaps they have abandoned you?" He laughed, delighting in the Dark Knight's suffering. "Let's discuss your future for a moment. What do you believe your future holds? Shall I tell you? You know that you cannot continue this little charade forever. What then? What do you do when you become too old?" His insane smile widened even further. "Would you like me to tell you what I see in your future? I'm sure that you know, as it is the only possible outcome. I see a man who has devoted his entire life to bettering the world; who has sacrificed everything that he has ever wanted for complete strangers... And still has nothing to show for it."

Batman twisted against his bonds, struggling to hold onto what little grip on reality he had left.

"How does that make you feel, Wayne? To know that you will die as alone and bitter as you've ever been, and that you will have no one to blame for it but yourself? Of course, that's assuming that you survive tonight's encounter, a possibility that grows ever slimmer."

Batman could feel his control weakening, as the hallucinations increased in their severity; he could no longer recognize the morgue as it drifted in and out of focus. The only constant was Strange's taunting, and that terrible, leering smile.

"After all that you have done for them, and they cannot be bothered to retrieve you. They know where you are, and yet they stall. Has the Martian even tried to reach your mind? Another extraordinary specimen... 'Tis a shame that I do not have the means to contain him at the moment. I have have loved the opportunity to dissect his brain... But no matter. There is always the future."

At that moment, the voice of Strange's head guard played over the intercom: "Sir we have reports of intruders approaching Arkham Island-" there was a deafening crash from outside. "Sir, they've just broken through the entrance gate!"

Strange turned away from Batman to address the intercom. "Stand down, captain. I believe that it is time that we took our leave. Well, Mr. Wayne... It would seem that your friends have come to retrieve you after all. I suppose that we shall meet again soo-" He turned to face Batman again, only to find the table empty, the restraints as open as if no one had ever been there. "Most impressive..." Strange chuckled to himself before leaving the room.

* * *

><p>"Alright, what's the plan?" Flash asked skidding to a halt in front of the gate. "'Cause, you know, Bats is usually the one who comes up with the plan."<p>

"We storm the place until we find him or somebody who knows where he is." Wonder Woman said. "I say we split up into groups and cover as much ground as possible."

"Sounds good. Me and Flash can cover the most ground in the least time, so we can take the bigger buildings."

"I want the Medical Building." Diana cut in. "I remember hearing something about the morgue."

"Alright, take Flash and get going. Let's get it done."

Wonder Woman and the Flash headed West at top speed, smashing through any security gates and fences that were unfortunate enough to get in the way. They reached the medical facility in record time.

"Alright, let's do this." Wonder Woman said, silently slipping into the building. However as soon as she'd entered, the lights flicked on, and two men wearing clown makeup and carrying enormous guns rushed into view.

"Down on the floor, and put your hands on ya head!" One of the clowns said, flourishing his gun. Wonder Woman did as he said, keeping a close eye on both criminals.

"Um... What do we do with her now?" The clown asked, sounding stunned that the order had actually worked.

"What do you think we do, dumbass?" His cohort replied. "We have a little bit of fun! Now just hold still, and- OOF!" Wonder Woman had flown into his legs at breakneck speed, knocking him to the ground with an almighty crash. The first thug hadn't fared much better, having been knocked out from behind by the Flash.

"Now... What were you planning on doing?" Wonder Woman growled as she stood up and dusted herself off.

"N-nothing!" The clown said in a small voice.

"Good." Wonder Woman said aggressively, stepping on the petrified man's shoulder. "Now... Tell me where Batman is."

"I dunno, they don't tell me important things, I just shoot people! Don't hurt me!"

"Not what I want to hear." Diana snarled. "If you value this arm, I would suggest that you come up with some information for me, and do it fast." She pressed the stiletto heel of her boot into the crook's arm nearly hard enough to snap the joint.

"ARGH! STOPPIT, STOPPIT! THE BOSS LIKES TO HOLE UP DOWNSTAIRS, YOU MIGHT FIND SOMETHING DOWN THERE!"

"You'd better hope that I do." Wonder Woman said disdainfully, kicking him in the face, breaking his nose and knocking him out. "Disgusting."

"Geez, you have been spending way too much time with the Bat lately." The Flash said, sounding slightly astonished. "Seriously, you're starting to scare me. I mean, couldn't you have just used the lasso of truth thingy?"

"Sometimes a more direct approach is more satisfying." Diana said curtly. "You search up here, I'll look around downstairs."

"And if it's a trap?"

"Then I'll break it."

"Um... Ok, then. Good plan, I guess-" But Wonder Woman had already flown off.

She ripped open the door to the elevator shaft with her bare hands, diving directly downwards through the car. She took the winding corridors more slowly, peering around every corner to avoid being ambushed. She hadn't made it far, when she heard uneven footsteps approaching. She tensed up, ready for a fight, and jumped around the corner.

"Batman? Hera, no!"

Batman was staggering down the hallway, gasping for air and mumbling under his breath.

"Bruce? Can you hear me? It's Diana!" She rushed over to steady him. "Answer me!"

As soon as she gripped him, he jumped to attention. "Or... Oracle..." He murmured. "Scarecrow... Scare..." He vomited a large amount of blood and closed his eyes, seizing slightly.

"Bruce! Wake up!" She shook him slightly, to no avail. She tapped her ear, activating her comms link. "Wonder Woman to Watchtower! J'onn! I need to talk to Oracle, right now!"

"I'll patch her through to you just in just a moment."

"Diana?" Barbara Gordon's voice issued from the earwig."What's going on in there? Did you find him?"

"I have him, but he's in bad shape. He's delirious, and weak."

"Alright, but what can I do to help?"

"I don't know. Before he passed out, he said two things. Your name, and 'Scarecrow."

"Ok, I think I get it." Barbara said, sounding slightly relieved. "He should have a small dose of anti-venom for Scarecrow's fear toxin in his belt. If you tap the centerpiece on his belt, that should run troubleshooting protocols and bring the suit back online. Then I'll be able to get vitals readings and disable the suit's countermeasures systems."

"Alright... I think that's it. Did it work?"

"Yeah, vitals are coming online, and... Oh no. This doesn't look good. Quickly, the antidote should be in the fifth pocket on the left side. Place the capsule in the syringe, and inject."

Diana did as she was told, and Batman gradually relaxed. She carefully lifted the cowl off of his face and placed a hand on his forehead. He was calmer, but still feverish. "Thanks, he feels a bit better. I've got to get him back to the Watchtower, I'll send word from there."

"Alright, I'll have more of the anti-venom sent up to the Watchtower just in case. Tell me if there's anything else that I can do."

"Will do." Wonder Woman said, cutting off the connection. "J'onn, Bruce is in rough shape. Can you beam us back up to the Watchtower?"

"Now that I have a direct fix on your locations, it shouldn't be a problem." The Martian said, tapping at his keyboard to activate the transporter.

"Good... I found Bruce, but there's no sign of whoever did this. Have Superman and the others keep looking, with a focus on the medical facilities." Diana tenderly pulled Bruce's mask over his face and breathed a sigh of relief as the teleporter activated, taking them both back home to the Watchtower.

Author's Note: I've got one more chapter planned out, then I might need to take a little bit of a break. Of course, I might be just a little bit busy over the next couple of days, so it could be a while before I get around to posting again. If I don't post tomorrow, it could take until Tuesday.

MNEONw- Glad you like it, and I'll try not too let you down in the future!


	9. Welcome to my Nightmare

**Important Author's Note**: I took a quick look at my chapter statistics earlier, and it looks like a lot of you are skipping over chapter 7. Probably my fault for posting 7 and 8 within such a short amount of time. So if I were you, I'd make sure to go back and catch 7- it's pretty important as far as exposition goes.

When Wonder Woman and Batman reappeared in the command room of the Watchtower, J'onn had already taken the liberty of preparing a crash cart and gurney. A medic lifted Batman onto the gurney and began rushing toward the sickbay, J'onn and Diana in tow. As soon as they'd reached the infirmary, J'onn unlocked the door of one of the private rooms and blacked out the windows. He dismissed the medic, and removed Batman's mask, carefully lifting him onto the bed where he could better examine the unconscious body. Bruce continued to stir feverishly, hampering J'onn's attempts to draw blood.

"My initial scans show most troublesome signs." The Martian began quietly. "Lacerations on the torso and forearms, punctures from multiple injections to the neck, small amounts of water in the lungs, and some severe electrical burns. I assume that I do not need to explain what this must mean?"

"He was tortured?" Diana whispered, a chill running down her spine.

"Quite severely." J'onn continued. "A lesser man would most likely have died from sheer strain. But what troubles me the most is the sample of his blood. Given the concentration of toxins in his blood, he would have been nearly incapable of speaking at all, never mind providing information."

"But.. Why would anybody do this if not for information?" Diana said, mortified.

"I cannot say. But it stands to reason that we are dealing with a deeply troubled and sadistic individual... I can scarcely imagine the sort of monster who would be capable of inflicting such suffering without reason."

"Will he be alright, though? He will get better, won't he?"

J'onn stared pensively for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "I... Cannot say. His body can be repaired easily enough. I will have him placed on dialysis to remove the chemicals without risking damage to his kidneys. He should recover within several days. His mind however... He has been through severe trauma. Serious damage has been done. How much, I cannot say until I have further probed his mind."

Diana paused for a moment, chewing over the implications of what he was saying. "You mean... He might not...?" She cut herself off in mid-sentence, unable to voice the rest of the thought."

"I am afraid that it is a very real possibility."

"If that's what's at stake, then I want to come with you. Into his mind."

J'onn took a moment to pore over her request. "I am not sure that Batman would appreciate that."

"That doesn't matter right now." She said, pacing the room. "If there's even the slightest chance that I can help, then I'm going."

"Very well." J'onn placed one hand on Bruce's forehead, and the other on Diana's. "But I warn you, it is impossible to predict what we may find. It would be wise to prepare yourself carefully. We shall proceed as soon as you are ready."

Diana took a steadying breath and nodded firmly. "I'm ready."

J'onn's eyes glowed a brilliant orange for a moment; Diana felt the odd sensation of flying through an incredibly bright tunnel. Then, there was a sudden darkness, and they fell to the ground. Diana gasped in horror at their new surroundings.

She could see several of Gotham's distinctive landmarks, but most of the city had been destroyed beyond all recognition. Several of the buildings had been completely leveled, and those that remained were burning ferociously Thick fog prevented them from seeing more than a few feet ahead, and tortured screaming could be heard from all directions, punctuated by the occasional bout of mad laughter.

"Hera..." Diana muttered, taking in the scene. "Is this...?"

"The inner workings of Bruce Wayne's mind." J'onn said grimly. "We had best press onward. This way." He flew forward, watching for any sign of life. Diana followed suit, still in awe of her new surroundings.

"J'onn, look!" Just a few yards away, she could see a mass of red on the ground. She made to approach it, but J'onn stuck an arm out to stop her.

"We must proceed with caution here. Not everything is as it should be here."

Diana nodded in understanding and proceeded forward. As the mass came into view, she received yet another unpleasant shock. "J'onn, it's Flash!" The Flash's body lay on the ground, crumpled in an awkward position, his eyes wide open, clearly dead from a single gunshot to the chest.

"Remember, Diana; it's only an illusion." The Martian said comfortingly. "As unsettling as it is, it is not real. But we are getting closer. I can sense it."

Diana closed the Flash's eyes and began to move forward again, still reeling at what she was seeing. "J'onn... This isn't what his mind is like all the time, is it?"

"To some degree. The toxins in his blood are no doubt responsible for a large amount of the damage here. However, as the gas is designed to feed of off one's inherent fears, it is difficult, if not impossible, to say how much."

As they forged onwards, more bodies appeared out of the fog; the rest of the founding Justice League members, Zatanna the Magician, Alfred, Robin, Nightwing, and an old woman that Diana didn't recognize. Finally, Diana found herself standing over her own body.

"Too weird..."

"We are close. Very close... There!" John pointed ahead to a narrow alley, where Diana could just barely make out a huddled form, larger than any of the bodies that they had come across so far. "You go ahead." J'onn said, gesturing toward the mysterious form.

Diana's nerves mounted as she drew closer; something was terribly wrong. As the form came into view, she could see that it was not one body, but three. "Oh no..."

At the bottom of the pile was a tall, finely-dressed man with graying hair and a handlebar mustache. Draped over his chest was a petite woman, wearing a black gown and a broken string of pearls around her neck. Crouched over the two, and drenched in their blood, was a young boy; by Diana's estimate, he couldn't have been more than ten years old. "Bruce?" Diana asked cautiously. The boy didn't answer. "Bruce, is that you?" She placed a hand on his shoulder.

The boy slowly turned around. As he did, Diana saw that tears were running down his face, and he was shaking in fear.

"They all leave. Nobody stays." The boy said sadly, his voice breaking.

Diana couldn't think of anything to say, so she simply hugged him tightly, rubbing his back comfortingly. "It's alright, Bruce. You aren't alone." She murmured, pity filling her heart. She gently lifted him in her arms, continuing to mutter soothingly until his sobbing ebbed away and he fell into a restful sleep. She carried the unconscious body back to the mouth of the alleyway where J'onn was waiting. The Martian nodded approvingly, and his eyes glowed orange once again.

When Diana opened her eyes, she was in the Watchtower once again. Bruce was still drenched in sweat, but he was no longer stirring. "Did it work?"

"I certainly hope so." J'onn said, examining Bruce again. "I believe that we have done what we can. The rest is up to him now." He paused at the doorway. "However, given the circumstances, a bit of company couldn't hurt." He gave her a knowing look. "If you would be so kind, you might stay with him for a while?"

Diana smiled weakly. "Of course, J'onn."

"Good. I shall be back in several hours to check on his condition. In the meantime, I would suggest that you both get some rest." He left the room, flipping off the lights as he went.

Diana yawned broadly, reaching for the supply cabinet. She retrieved several spare pillows and blankets. She lifted one of the blankets over Bruce, relief flooding over her as his shivering subsided slightly. She wheeled the gurney up against the bed and placed the spare pillows and blankets on it, creating a makeshift bed for herself. Settling in for a long night, she climbed into the bed and grabbed Bruce's hand, squeezing rhythmically until she too fell into a deep sleep.

Author's Note: Holy sentence fragments, Batman! Just one more chapter for the list of future edits. I think I caught enough of the bigger errors, so I'll let it slide for now. Now, for a word about the future. I've had an inspiration for a new story arc; I just need a bit of time to flesh it out. It could take a couple days, which works out pretty well, because my class schedule may not allow me to post for a few days anyway. Should I have time to write in the next few days, I'll probably put out a few 'filler' chapters to flesh out characters a bit more. But I'll play it by ear for a bit.

Unleash the Shadow: Nuuuu indeed, nuuuu indeed. But Batman's tough, he'll pull through in the end.


	10. Recuperation

Author's Note: Alright, I've solved the shit out of my plot problem. I've come up with some ideas that should spice things up, and even plug up some plot holes that were starting to worry me. But for now, I'm going to take things a bit slow (MAJOR SAP WARNING FOR THIS CHAPTER: CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AHEAD). But now that I've finished a rough storyboard, I can predict about 15 chapters, more or less. A bit on the short side, but eh. On the other hand... More on that after the chapter, actually.

Bruce slowly opened his eyes, but was immediately blinded by sudden brightness. He reflexively tried to spring out of bed and into a defensive position, but found that he was too sore to move more than a few inches. He tried to lift his head, but it was too heavy; he groaned and fell back into a lying position.

"Morning." Diana said, rising from the cot that she'd been sleeping on, yawning and stretching, "How'd you sleep?"

"What the Hell is going on? I can barely move?"

"Hardly surprising; you've been out cold for nearly three days. Everybody's been worried; they'll be glad to hear that you're finally awake."

Memories of the night at Arkham rushed back to Bruce; he fought back shivers and focused on what was important. "Did everybody else make it out?"

"We're all fine... You being the obvious exception. But we need information. We've detained everybody that we found at the hospital. We just need confirmation from you."

"His name is Strange. Hugo Strange. And I doubt that you'll have found him there. He's nothing if not smart; he'll have made an escape plan. He had all off this planned, and he played us every single step of the way."

"Well, you're right about that." Diana said, checking a slip of paper on the bedside table. "He was listed among the unaccounted for staff."

"Anything else that I should know?"

"We found seven dead staff and several missing patients, including-"

"Let me guess. The Joker and the Scarecrow?"

"The very same." She said sadly. "Other notable escapees include one Waylon Jones, Garfield Lynns, Jervis Tetch, and Victor Zsasz"

"Terrific." Bruce forced himself into an upright position, but Diana pushed him back down.

"_Where_ do you think you're going?"

"I have business to take care of."

"And what 'business' would that be?"

"I need to have a chat with an old acquaintance."

"Not today, you don't. If it's that important, then you can send somebody else. But you're staying here until you've been checked out, so you might as well rest. For now, you're on lockdown. And if you try to get out, I'll knock you out again myself." She headed for the door, pausing before crossing the threshold. "It's good to have you back, Bruce."

Bruce awakened once again several hours later, having been alerted to the sounds of conversation. He opened his eyes just enough to see who was there; he immediately recognized the dark red hair of Barbara Gordon (formerly Batgirl, now operating as Oracle) and the black and blue jumpsuit of Dick Grayson (Batman's first protege, now operating out of Bludhaven as Nightwing).

"I just wish that he wasn't so stubborn all the time." Barbara was saying. "I mean, I think that it would be good for him to genuinely enjoy himself every now and then."

"You might be right, Babs, but maybe it's for the best." Dick said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "I mean, he gets what, three hours of sleep a night? Imagine how much sleeping with _Wonder Woman_ could cut into- oh, hey Bruce..." He trailed off awkwardly. "I didn't know you were awake." Bruce continued to stare at him. "Alrighty, then. So... How're ya feeling Bruce?" He murmured in a rather transparent attempt to change the subject.

"Better." Bruce said stiffly. "Any news about the Asylum?"

"I've got a couple of bodies down at Gotham PD that are almost definitely Zsazz's work. Croc seems to be keeping his head down, but we've got some reports of massive droppings in the sewers that are almost definitely his." He took a quick look at the list of missing inmates. "The Mad Hatter and Firefly are off the grid, and it we haven't heard so much as a giggle from the Joker."

"And Strange?"

"Nothing, Bruce." Barbara said. "I combed his financial records and his paperwork, but I didn't get much. He's a master of analytical psychology, and he's spent a lot of time overseas, presumably studying."

"We could have guessed that much." Bruce said, closing his eyes in thought. "He's playing us. Nothing on the financial records?"

"I didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

"I figured as much. He must be covering his tracks somehow. Probably going through money launderers... Send me a copy anyway. I'm starting up a file on him."

"Good plan, Bruce. What then?"

"It depends on what we find." Bruce said Grimly. "He's smart. We may have no choice but to wait until he makes his next move."

"Uh oh." Dick said. "That really doesn't sound good."

"It's not. He's a grinder; he'll make sure that he has the advantage before he plays his hand. We have to trick him into thinking that he can beat us."

"Sounds good. Any ideas on how we'd go about doing that?"

"A few."

"Feel like sharing any of them?"

"No."

"Well okay, then. Nice chatting with you, I guess." Dick said sarcastically.

"Seriously, Bruce, are you alright?" Barbara asked, sounding concerned. "You don't sound like yourself today."

"I've got a lot to think about. I'll be fine."

"Alright, just get some rest. Me and Dick can take care of Gotham for a couple of days."

After Dick and Barbara left, Bruce spent the next hour alone in the dark, formulating countless strategies and counterstrategies. He pored over his compiled notes on Hugo Strange, attempting to predict what Strange would do next until J'onn came to check on his condition.

"How are you feeling?" The Martian asked in his dull, flat voice.

"I can't move." Bruce said bitterly.

"Unsurprising, given the amount of bruising and muscle damage you've sustained. But that should not be an issue, assuming that you take the proper amount of time to recuperate."

"Unlikely at best."

"I thought as much. As I am more concerned with your mental state, I recommend a short period for psychiatric evaluation."

"Not on your life."

"It couldn't hurt to ask." J'onn sighed. "But we must decide on our next course of action."

"I've been working on it. It's useless. We don't know enough about Strange to anticipate him. Even I can't make head or tails of what he thinks he's playing at. He captures me, captures the others, releases me for the others... It makes no sense. Until we know his endgame, we don't have much of a shot at guessing his next move."

"Then we must take defensive measures. It seems likely that he will target the other members of the League; we will be dividing into pairs until he Strange is neutralized."

"Let me guess-"

"Diana will be staying with you. Her false papers and alias are already in place."

"I didn't know that matchmaker had been added to your list of duties." Bruce said bitingly. "But I can take care of myself."

"This is not up for debate." The Martian said forcefully. "I have spent the last three days formulating strategies. John and Shayera, Wally and Clark, You and Diana. Teams that are conductive to teamwork, and balance super strength and hand-to-hand combat experience, as well as other skills. You and Diana have proven to be a capable squad time and time again." His expression softened slightly. "You know, you owe her a great deal. Had it not been for her accompaniment, it is entirely possible I would not have been not have been able to restore your mind."

"You brought her into my head?"

"As usual, you show an unusual aptitude for deflection. But my decision stands. Now, I believe that this concludes the evaluation. You should be restored to full health in a matter of days."

"Fine."

"Excellent. John's outside; he would like a word, assuming you're feeling up to it."

"Fine."

The Martian left the room, signaling for the Green Lantern to enter. He approached the bed and sat down in a chair.

"Well?" Batman groaned, his chest beginning to ache."

"I just figured that I'd stop by to say thanks." John said. "You really went through a lot of trouble to save our asses back there, and I wouldn't feel right if I didn't thank you for it."

"Well you know what they say." Batman said with a roguish smile. "First one in, last one out."

"Oo-rah." John grinned broadly. "Anyone ever tell you that you would've made one hell of a Marine?"

"Funnily enough, that's not the sort of thing that you hear too often when you have a reputation as a playboy billionaire. Besides, I'm not exactly a team player."

"You risked your ass for us, and that's good enough for me." His smile faded slightly. "I know you don't want to hear this, but we need to talk about Diana."

"Again?"

"Listen, you don't want to come to terms with this. I get that as well as anyone else, trust me. But you didn't see her while you were missing. You thought she had a temper before? I heard from Flash that she nearly dislocated some thug's shoulder with her boot trying to figure out where they were keeping you."

"She always was a quick study."

"Yes, you're a bad influence. Not the point that I was trying to make. She was beyond pissed. I was worried that she was going to go berserk and kill someone."

"What's your point?"

"You're the 'world's greatest detective'. You can figure it out. You know _exactly_ what I'm talking about. Hell, half the goddamned Watchtower knows. So why can't you just admit it to yourself and make it that much easier for everyone involved?"

"It's... Complicated."

"Has she ever tried to sell out the entire planet to an invasive alien species? You don't know complicated." John said, sounding slightly bitter.

"Why do you care?" Bruce asked. "My personal life is none of your business."

"I watch out for my friends. I don't want to see you get screwed over. The same goes for her." John let out a deep sigh. "You remember when we went to the future? And we met your older self?"

"Kind of hard to forget, really."

"Well is that who you want to be? Old, bitter, and alone?"

"If that's what I have to do to keep Gotham safe, then that's who I'll be."

John rolled his eyes. "It's not up to you. You have a life to live too, and you've already given up plenty of it. As a matter of fact, I think that you know that. I think that at this point, you're just hiding."

"You're way out of line." Bruce growled, anger becoming evident on his face.

John took a deep breath to calm himself. "You're right. I have no right to be saying these things. And I'm sorry. But I'll stand by what I said." He paused for a moment. "And I feel like I should remind you that she's an _Amazon Princess._"

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, if you don't make your move soon, somebody will. Hell, it might be Flash, for that matter. You have a chance. You should take it. It's as simple as that."

"Are you speaking from experience?"

"You know...Trust is important." John said slowly, seemingly out of nowhere. "It's not easy to find people that you can trust." He stood up and strode over to the window, and gazed out into space. "Yeah, I'm speaking from experience. I've come to terms with it. I loved her, but I held a grudge. It seemed big and important at the time, but I can see now that it was _nothing_. But I held onto that grudge, and I nearly lost her forever." He turned back to Bruce. "Life isn't always easy. Lord knows that you of all people know that. But it doesn't always have to be hard. Sometimes the hard choice doesn't have to be hard. I'm glad that I figured myself out in time. But I'd hate to see you make the same mistakes that I almost did." He gave Bruce a gentle pat on the shoulder. "You know, you take some warming up to, but you're good people, Bruce. It's good to have someone to talk to every now and then."

"I guess so."

"So... Everything else aside, thanks for saving all of our asses."

"I watch out for my friends."

"And we appreciate it. But you don't need to be so hard on yourself all the time."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Good. I'll let you get some rest, and hopefully you'll be up again in no time." He made for the door, but Bruce stopped him.

"John... Thanks."

"No problem. It's good to have somebody to confide in, after all." He flicked off the lights, leaving Bruce with a great deal to ponder.

Author's Note: Because Batman wouldn't be Batman if he wasn't stubborn as a muleA bit sappy at some points, but it does the job. I might come back to it later to remove some of the sap, but now is a time to plunge ahead.

I've been working on this on and off since Monday, and it's finally finished. Hopefully the next one won't take as long. On the other hand, it's probably going to be a good bit shorter.

I've always really liked the interaction between Batman and GL; they really seem to get each other. It seems like they have the same driven mentality.

Unleash the Shadow: Ah, but it's not quite a conclusion. On the contrary, the struggle has only just begun.

Strike300 and RFK22: Thanks for the support, and I hope that it didn't disappoint! And if it did... Well, I'll just have to try harder next time then.

The Fiery Apprentice: Funny, I was drawing on the hallucinations from Arkham Asylum, obviously adjusted to reflect a heavier dosage. And I've heard a lot of good things about the new 52, but yikes- $25-$30 for six issues is pretty steep. I'll get around to it eventually, though. And I'm glad that you're looking forward to the next segment, especially now that I have a kind of faint idea of what it is. So trust me, I'm just as excited to see how this pans out as anyone else.

You can all ignore these last few lines: the only reason that they're here is to push me over the edge into a seventh page. It's a point of pride.


	11. The Calm Before the Storm

Author's Note: Another slow one before the action picks up, I think. Then again, I can't make too many promises about the future. I know where I want to take the story, now it's just a matter of getting there. We'll see where this takes us then, shall we?

When Bruce woke up the next morning, he felt considerably better; the pain was still there, but it was manageable enough for him to walk. He slowly pulled himself out of bed, and stood for a moment to stretch out his stiff muscles before dropping himself onto the floor. Using his remaining good arms, he performed several perfect pushups. However, he barely made it to ten before he started to lose his form. As he approached twenty, he grunted and rolled over, the pain in his arm becoming too much for him to handle. He gasped for air, as a sharp, burning pain shot up through his arm.

"Easy there, tough guy." Bruce snapped his head back, revealing Diana's presence in the doorway. J'onn was directly behind her. "You are planning on getting well enough to leave at some point, aren't you?"

"I'm fine." Bruce grunted, using the bed as a support to pull himself off of the floor. "Just testing myself."

"Now is not the time for that." J'onn said sternly. "Although I must admit, the speed of your recovery is quite admirable. Please sit on the bed, if you would be so kind."

"Am I finally free to go?" Bruce asked, hiding the sarcasm in his voice just enough to prevent the Martian from noticing it.

"Your vitals have stabilized quite nicely... All physical symptoms have nearly vanished, with the exception of bruising, muscle tearing, and all but the most sever lacerations. Once the bruising subsides, you will once again be in prime physical condition. However, until then, I would suggest that you avoid... Strenuous activities."

"I'll see what I can do."

"Then I see no reason to keep you here any longer." J'onn produced a crutch from the room's supply cabinet. "You may pick up your prescription painkillers from the nurse on your way out."

"I don't need painkillers. I'd rather be alert."

"Of course, it is your decision. Once you're ready, we will meet you in the teleporter bay."

J'onn and Diana left, the latter grinning somewhat flirtatiously as made her exit.

Bruce limped over to the closet to retrieve his torn Batsuit. He pulled it on with some difficulty, as he was somewhat hampered by his splinted arm. Realizing that it wouldn't do for Bruce Wayne to be spotted aboard the Watchtower, he settled for tucking his injured arm inside the suit. As soon as he was suited up, Batman began the long trek to the teleporter, hampered by his injuries. Once he'd finally made it, J'onn was waiting by the console.

"I take it that you are ready to return home?"

"Truer words have never been spoken." Batman said.

"Alright then, let's get going." Diana said from behind Bruce. He hadn't recognized her at first; she had changed out of her usual distinctive costume in favor of a fashionable set of civilian clothes (Author's Note: How does I fashion? Obviously not a strong suit of mine). She'd tied her hair back in a loose ponytail, concealing her identity enough for her to blend in with the general population. "What do you think?" She twirled around gracefully, showing off her disguise.

"It's... Good." Batman murmured. "You don't look like yourself."

"Not quite what I was looking for, but we'll work on that." She winked at him and climbed up onto the teleporter pad. "Send us down, J'onn."

There was a brilliant flash of light, and Bruce and Diana felt their molecules being scrambled as they were volleyed down to the Earth. When they reappeared, they were in the master bedroom of Wayne Manor. No more than thirty seconds after their sudden appearance, the door opened.

"Good evening, Sir and Madam. I can't express how good it is to see you safe and sound again." Alfred said, a tone of relief in his voice.

"I'll give you two a moment to catch up." Diana said, leaving to explore the manor.

Bruce began to peel off the layers of his costume, tossing the components on the bed. "I take it that you've come up with an alibi for me?"

"It just so happens that I have, Sir." Alfred said with a shadow of a grin. "It has been leaked to the presses that you were on vacation in Vermont at a ski resort, where you had a small run in with a tree, resulting in some minor bruising and a slight concussion. Of course, you have spent the last few days in a private hospital recuperating. Eleven witnesses will place you at the resort, and medical records are in place."

"Some vacation." Bruce said, pulling the gauntlet off of his good hand with his teeth. "And of course, I don't remember any of this, thanks to the concussion?"

"Unfortunately not." Alfred said with a tone of mock sadness. "But fear not, for there is an upside to your misfortune; on your trip, you met a lovely young woman by the name of Diana Prince with whom you got along quite well. Before your accident, you agreed to give her a personal tour of Gotham City."

"Your imagination never ceases to amaze me, Alfred."

"A grain of truth always helps, Sir."

"Alright... Anything on tap for tonight, Alfred?"

"You're signed on to attend Mr. Shreck's charity ball tonight, but I can of course change your RSVP if you aren't feeling up to it."

"No, it's fine. It's good to keep up appearances. And besides, Diana should enjoy it if nothing else."

"As you say, Master Bruce."

"Now... To business. I'm going to need the spare Batsuit. I have some people that I need to talk to.

"Oh... Well, that could be a problem, Sir. You see, Master Grayson borrowed your suit yesterday. It would seem that he too realizes the importance of 'keeping up appearances,' as you say."

"And besides, you're not going out there again today." Diana said from the doorway, having finished her brief tour of the manor. "I told J'onn that I'd keep an eye on you while you heal up, and I intend to do exactly that. So no more scrambling over rooftops until then.."

"I don't 'scramble.'"

"I'm glad that you agree."

"Hm." Bruce grumbled, deciding that this particular argument could wait.

"Erm... Yes..." Alfred interjected uncomfortably, feeling the tension moutning. "In the meantime, may I suggest that you consider doing something to pass the time? It seems like it's been so long since you've had the time to use the home theatre. Perhaps a movie is in order?"

Bruce took in a deep breath, releasing his Batman mindset, and settling in as his alter ego. "I don't think so, Alfred." he said, selecting a jacket from his wardrobe. "I'm thinking about going out. Assuming that it's ok with the Princess?"

"No objections here." Diana said. "I've been meaning to get out a bit more, now that you mention it."

"Are you sure that you can keep up?"

"I've hung out with Princess Audrey before, remember? I think that I'll be able to manage."

"Oh, you have no idea, Princess." Bruce said, grinning devilishly. "Trust me, Princess Audrey has nothing on Bruce Wayne." He placed an arm on her shoulder and steered her from the room.

Author's Note: The following scene has been excluded because of reasons. However, if you want to know what happens in the period that I won't be covering, you can just listen to Party Rock Anthem and probably get the gist of things.

This was going to go on for a bit longer, but I have a paper due tomorrow. No worries, I'll either just tack what I was going to write at the beginning of the next chapter or post it as its own mini-chapter.

As an afterthought, I'd like to add a brief word on reviews; don't get me wrong, the level of support that I'm getting is incredible, but now that I know that you guys like me, I'd like to know what I can do better. I think I have the basics down, but narrative writing's never really been a strength of mine (persuasive writing is where I shine, if I do say so myself). So if you guys have any tips on how to balance dialogue or keep good plot pacing, send them my way. Also, I'm having some concerns about staying in character, so feedback in that area would be great. While I'm on the subject, I'm pretty open to having a beta reader, if anyone is interested. I guess that that wasn't as brief as I promised, but oh well.

So the pacing will pick up again within the next few chapters; maybe the next one. Who knows. Not me, that's for sure. On a somewhat related note, I had a hard time keeping up with the serious chapter titles that I've been using this time around. I really had to fight the urge to call it 'Knight on the Town.' Fortunately, my 'God-Awful Pun Detector' kicked in at the very last second.


	12. Familiar Faces

Author's Note: As I'm sure you'll recall, when we left off Diana were just leaving to go paint the town red. Like I said last time, I'm going to leave that to your imagination. But if you need help, picture a montage of them driving around Gotham set to 'Don't Stop Me Now' by Queen. You're welcome. Also, I'm still interested in looking for beta readers if anybody wants to volunteer for a sneak peek of the odd chapter.

"Wow..." Diana said, kicking off her heels as she passed through the threshold into Wayne Manor, her arm draped over Bruce's shoulder. "Just... Wow. You know, I don't think that I'll ever be able to look at the Batman the same way again."

"You can't say that I didn't warn you." Bruce shrugged. "You held up pretty nicely, though."

"Speaking of which... How on Earth are you still standing? You must've had more to drink than Bacchus at one of his Saturnalia festivals. And believe me, that's no mean feat."

"I don't drink." He said shortly.

"But I saw-"

"I pretend to sip, and dump it off in a plant when nobody's looking. That way I can stay sharp if Batman's needed."

"I really should remember that..." Diana grumbled, her speech slightly slurred. "I'm beat. What time is it?"

"Around one in the morning."

"Hmm..." She yawned broadly. "Time for bed, I think."

"Bats are nocturnal."

"You're not a bat. Not tonight, anyway."

"Alright, alright then. The guest bedroom's up the stairs and-"

"Nuh-uh." Diana said, shaking her head. "I'm not falling for that one. I leave you alone, and you sneak out and do whatever it is you do. Do you think that I'm stupid? I'm not taking my eyes off of you for a minute."

"Even if it means-"

"Yes, Bruce. What's the matter? We're adults, we can share the same bed. Unless..." She narrowed her eyes cunningly, "you're intimidated?"

"Fine, as long as you keep your hands to yourself."

"No promises."

"I can't say that I didn't try." He shrugged again and led the way to the master bedroom.

* * *

><p>Amanda Waller was awakened from a sound sleep by the sound of her perimeter security alarms wailing; she silently slid out of her bed, grabbing the pistol under her pillow with her left hand, and the shotgun under the bed with her right. She could hear loud crashing noises coming from her study on the floor below. She waited, holding stock still until the noise subsided; her heart racing slightly, she began to make her way downstairs. She stood outside the study for a moment, bracing herself for whatever waited on the other side before brutally kicking the door in and charging forward, both guns extended.<p>

"Oh. It's you."

Batman stood in the center of the room, surrounded by the glass from the window he'd shattered on his way in and the unconscious bodies of Waller's personal security detail, casually massaging his knuckles. He was dressed differently from his unual attire; his new suit was almost entirely black, with a red bat insignia on the chest and a mask that covered his entire face. "Turn off the alarms. Unless you plan to shoot me?"

"I'm considering it. You and I both know that you could have just as easily snuck in without setting off a single alarm." Waller said, remotely deactivating the alarms nonetheless.

"I just wanted to remind you that I can get in either way."

"Trying to scare me, eh? I'm wise to your act, Rich Boy. I guess I can't say that I haven't been expecting you... Not that that means that I'm Ok with breaking and entering, but that's a whole different matter. Although my sources say that you're still on bedrest after your incident at the Asylum."

"I heal fast." Batman growled. "I want everything on Hugo Strange."

"All files pertaining to Professor Strange have already been sent to the Justice League Embassy, as per the Martian's request."

"Don't play dumb with me Waller. I want _everything._ I know Cadmus was into Black Ops, and, frankly, I don't give a damn. I want all notes on any research and development projects that he was involved in."

Waller pursed her lips. "You realize that the information that you're asking me to hand over, supposing that it even exists in the first place, could put me in jail for the rest of my life?"

"I do."

They exchanged mutual stoney glares for several moments until Waller let out a mildly amused grunt and turned to face her desk. "Some things never change..." She muttered as she shuffled through files. Finally, she pulled out several thick, sealed envolopes, all of which were marked 'Confidential- Top Secret' in large, red letters. She extended them for him to take, but withdrew them at the last second.

"Of course, you understand that I'm giving you these files with the understanding that the information that they contain will not leave your circle?" Waller asked suspiciously.

"And?"

"And you owe me. A lot."

"Deal."

* * *

><p>Diana woke up in the middle of the Middle of the night with a rather severe headache. She groaned loudly and rolled over. "Bruce, wher-" But Bruce wasn't there. "Oh, for the love of... I swear that man has some kind of death wish..." She retrieved her Justice League Comms link from the nightstand, placing it in here ear and activating it. "J'onn, Bruce is gone."<p>

"I suppose that a night of downtime was too much to ask for after all. He's deactivated his comms link's built in tracker. I cannot locate him."

"There must be a way to find him..." Diana said, rubbing her temples in thought. "I've got it! Patch me through Oracle's line directly into his cowl."

"One moment... There!"

Diana heard garbled static for a moment, before Bruce's voice came into focus. "And?" He was asking.

"And you owe me. A lot." Said a familiar voice that Diana recognized as belonging to Amanda Waller , the former director of Cadmus.

"Deal."

"BRUCE!" Diana shouted, causing Batman to nearly jump out of his skin. "WHERE. THE. HELL. ARE. YOU." She growled, loudly enough for Waller to hear.

"I'll be back soon. I'm just-"

"Stay where you are. I'm coming to get you." She abruptly cut the connection.

"Well," Waller chuckled. "it sounds like somebody's in trouble, doesn't it now?"

"Save it." Batman said hurriedly. "I want personal details on Strange."

"He was brilliant. Driven. In a word, obsessive. He's probably the world's greatest analytical psychologist. He figured out your secret identity through his own profiling methods that you and I couldn't even begin to understand. He told me about you and your weaknesses, and in return, Cadmus funded him."

"It sounds like you're a fan."

"Not particularly. The man's brilliant, but not a shred of empathy to speak of. I'll warn you before you read that file; some of his experiments were the most disturbing things that I've ever seen. The man dabbled in things that made the other department heads turn away in fear, and you know what _they_ were involved in."

"Any idea of what he wants?"

"The obvious, of course." Waller said. "He's after you. Simple as that. He's shown an unhealthy obsession with you since as long as I've known him. You just seem to attract all the sick puppies, don't you?"

"And you weren't planning on telling me any of this?"

For the first time, Waller looked down in shame. "I'm not proud of what I did. I encouraged a mad dog. To be honest, I'd hoped that this had all been swept under the rug. I'd hoped that he'd settled for cleaning up your messes at Arkham. I guess that was just too much to hope for..."

"Anything else I should know?"

"Not really. Just that he's smart as all hell. He's copied your thought processes completely; trained himself to think three steps ahead."

"Great. And you have no idea what he wants?"

"The man was always a mystery. He kept to himself mostly, and to be honest, we preferred it that way."

"So basically, he's completely unreada- OOF." He was cut off in mid-sentence by a thick gold rope that appeared out of nowhere, constricting around his chest. Wonder Woman had appeared in the broken window and tossed her lasso, and was currently reeling in the momentarily stunned Bat.

"Come on, playtime's over." She said, pulling him up and grabbing him under the arm. "Sorry about the mess." She said, turning to Amanda Waller. "I'll keep a closer eye on him from now on." She said, sounding as though she were apologizing for a misbehaving child.

"Oh, don't worry about it." Waller said, sounding nothing short of ecstatic about the latest turn of events.

Without another word, Diana took off toward Wayne Manor, still keeping a tight grip on Bruce as though she suspected that he would try to escape in mid-flight. "Explain yourself."

"I needed to talk to Waller." Batman said calmly. "Strange was on the Cadmus board of directors."

"And it couldn't wait _two days?_"

"It's not like it was anything particularly strenuous.I just needed to get some information."

"You know, I probably wouldn't believe that even if I hadn't seen the pile of unconscious guards."

"That's how I get information."

"Which is, in turn, why you won't be leaving my sight for a second for the next few days." She sighed, realizing that it would be virtually useless to try and keep a leash on him. "Where'd you get that suit from anyway?"

"It's a prototype I've been working on. It's not fully functional, but it does the trick."

"I like it. It's slimming." Diana grinned

"Not the point. Not by a long shot."

"It's a nice touch, though." She said, gliding through an open window into Wayne Manor's Master Bedroom. They both peeled off their costumes, changing back into the clothes that they'd been sleeping in, and crawled back into the bed.

Bruce waited for a moment until he was sure that Diana was asleep, then grabbed the files he'd taken from Waller off his nightstand. He carefully crept out of the bed, intending to slip into the Batcave to begin processing the files. However, he'd barely made it to the edge of the bed when Diana's hand shot out, grabbing his wrist.

"Alright." She said wearily. "You're obviously not getting this, so I'm going to lay it out for you." She half opened her eyes. "It is four thirty in the morning. You may be used to these hours, but I'm not. You might not have noticed, but I'm getting tired. So here's how this is going to work. _You_ are going to stay in this bed. All night. _I_ am going to sleep for a few more hours. If I catch you out of bed before ten o'clock, I'll put you back to sleep myself. Permanently. Got it? Good." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek and rolled over. "Good night..." She yawned, instantly falling asleep again.

"Hm. Women." Bruce mumbled, smiling despite himself as he too fell into a restful slumber.

Author's Note: This is the golden balance that I've been seeking; in my mind, this is the perfect mix of substance and mush. So this one should give you some food for thought while I work on the next one (my bet is that it'll be up Friday morning). The action should really be picking up then. Maybe.

Unleash the Shadow: That reminded me of The Joker's "There's no going back. You've changed things... Forever" Speech from The Dark Knight, and I'm not really sure why. But either way, glad you're enjoying the ride.

The Fiery Apprentice: Yeah, the way I write (meaning 'late at night,' typos are basically an inevitability. I should be able to go back and get the major ones when I go back and do edits after the stories finished, although I kind of count on people to point out the really important ones as they see them. If you're looking for twists, then I've got some major twistage coming up between now and the end of the story, so that's good. Glad you liked the characterization, because I was starting to worry about that. It gets tricky when a character's been written a hundred different ways by a hundred different people which is why I'm focusing on the DCAU Justice League pretty much exclusively. There are way too many different comic stories and universes to consider right now. Maybe after I brush up my writing a bit, but for now I'm keeping it simple. And about the Batman/ Bruce Wayne aspect, I've been drawing a lot of inspiration from the Christopher Nolan films, where they get treated basically as totally seperate characters. The way I like to think of it, he has the most perfectly controlled split personality disorder ever, basically being able to switch between the two at will. I find it a bit liberating to be able to have Bruce Wayne to do/say the things that Batman never would and vice versa, if that makes any sense. But That'll be elaborated on more later, because it's 6:30 in the morning.


	13. Live Without Warning

Author's Note: Before I say anything else, I'm going to remeind everybody that I'm still looking for anyone open to beta reading every so often.

This one took a while to get started on, but that'll be a good thing in the end. See, the reason that it took so long in the first place is the cool ideas that I've been drafting out for future use. I've been working on two separate storylines that I've been planning to use, but I've just had a neat idea about how I could combine them into one really cool... Thing. I guess I shouldn't say too much until I've smoothed out some of the huge wrinkles, but suffice it to say that I'm excited. Anyway, let's see how far I can get with this chapter.

"How much longer do you need to stay at this?" Wonder Woman said, folding her arms over her chest. She and Batman were standing on top of one of the tallest buildings in Gotham city. She was lounging casually on one of the stone gargoyles that hung over the edge of the building. Batman, on the other hand, was astutely crouched on the next one over with a pair of binoculars pressed firmly against his eyes and an expression that was so intensely focused that it would have been difficult to distinguish from the gargoyle's. After two nights of near constant escape attempts, Diana had finally relented and and let Bruce don his batsuit again, under close supervision, as his arm still hadn't healed completely.

"I don't know." Batman said calmly. "They'll let something slip eventually." He tuned the frequency on his earpiece so that he could better hear the the transmissions from the bug that he'd placed in the warehouse below. "Patience. Rome wasn't built in a day, after all."

"I know." Wonder Woman said crossly. "I was there. This whole stakeout thing really isn't my bit, though. I still don't see why can't go down there and teach them a lesson right here and now."

"You can't deal with drug dealers that way." Batman pointed out, still not taking his eyes of off the warehouse. "Those guys are just low level distributors. We knock them out, the bosses come back with a new wave of dealers. We need to cut the problem off at the source."

"And I suppose you'll have an equally valid reason why we can't just go... 'Ask' them?"

"Interrogations performed by vigilantes in bat costumes and amazons with magic lassos tend to not hold up to well in court. It's a sad fact of life. We'll just have to wait until one of them lets it slip."

"Well they'd better let it slip quickly, or I'll slip it for them."

"You really have better places to be at two in the morning?"

"I think you know exactly where I'd rather be right now." She said coyly. "Don't pretend you weren't thinking the same thing."

"I think I've got something here." He focused in on the two thugs in the warehouse again.

"Of course you do." Wonder Woman rolled her eyes as she pressed a finger against her own earpiece. "The docks, tomorrow night. How original." She made to jump over the edge of the gargoyle, but Batman grabbed her wrist at the last second, holding her back.

"Not yet. If take them out now, their bosses'll get nervous and move the shipments. We can't afford to rattle the cages yet."

"All that, and we don't even get a fight?" She said, sounding slightly crestfallen. "You're letting them go?"

"Yes."

"It's not like you to let a criminal walk away unscathed. Are you feeling alright?"

"I don't mind, as long as they're walking away into my trap."

Wonder Woman groaned. "You mean we have to do this _again_ tomorrow?"

"No. I'll tip Commissioner Gordon off and let the police handle them."

"See, that's not like you either. You're usually too stubborn to let anybody else take over your operations." She said, sounding concerned. "Are you sure that you're ok?"

"I'm fine. I have other things to take care of."

"You're going after Strange." She said, realization dawning on her. "Absolutely not. You're in no condition to take him on again. He nearly killed you last time!"

"To be honest, I don't think that you can stop me."

Wonder Woman sighed and leaned back against the edge of the building. "You're probably right. But you don't even have any leads to go on. How are you going to find him in the first place?"

I don't know. But I can't beat him if he's controlling the game and anticipating my every move."

"How about taking somebody else's advice for a change? He'd never be able to see that coming. Look. I'm not saying that you should run away from him. Just take a deep breath and wait-"

"Wait until he's laid out another trap for me? I don't think so. He's smart and patient. I can't keep letting him call the shots. It's about time I stepped up and set some traps of my own."

"An answer for everything..." Diana muttered under her breath. She could tell that he'd already made up his mind, and that it would be useless to argue the point any further. "Fine, Bruce, have it your way. But just remember, you don't have to do this alone. You've got the whole League behind you."

"I'll keep that in mind. Let's go." Batman abruptly jumped from the gargoyle, launching his grapple at another building in the distance, gracefully swooping away. Diana quickly jumped to her feet and dived after him.

"You know, you can be a real piece of work."

"I like to think that it's part of my charm."

* * *

><p>When they'd returned to the Batcave, Diana was the first to finish changing. She groggily made her way to the bedroom, only to find that Alfred was already inside dusting.<p>

"Terribly sorry, Miss. I'm afraid that I wasn't expecting the two of you back so early." He said, stowing his feather duster and bowing slightly.

"This is _early?_" Diana asked incredulously. "No wonder he's always in a bad mood."

"Quite right. I'll be going, then. I'd imagine that you'll be needing your rest."

"Actually, Alfred I'd like a word with you. About Bruce. Seeing how you've known him longest, I figured you would be the best person to ask."

Alfred sighed heavily. "True, I have known Master Bruce since his birth. Yet, the inner machinations of his mind remain a complete enigma, even to me Still, I shall do what I can to answer your questions."

Diana thought carefully for a moment, choosing her words. "Has he always been like this?"

"I'm afraid so. You see, both his greatest strength and his largest shortcomings stem from his resistance to change. All in all, it's what makes him who he is. Of course, such dedication and loyalty don't come without a heavy price, as I'm sure you and your comrades all realize."

"I'm worried about him, Alfred. I think that he might be biting of more than he can chew right now. Strange is a maniac. He's already nearly killed him once. I don't know if we'll be so lucky a second time around."

"While I understand your concerns, I feel that I should reassure you; with Master Bruce, luck has very little to do with anything. He'll do whatever he can to rule it out of the equation. I'm sure that he'll be fine. You know how he is when it comes to planning ahead. He wouldn't make his move until he was reasonably certain that he could come out on top." Alfred said in a firm, reassuring voice.

"But Alfred... What if this is the one person that he can't beat? What if this is the one person who's one step ahead of Bruce?"

"We mustn't think such things; I'm afraid that that would herald a very dark time for us all. But remember, Master Bruce is a capable man with many capable friends and allies to support him. I've never met Hugo Strange, but from what I've heard, I doubt that the same could be said for him."

"Thanks Alfred." Diana said, feeling genuinely reassured. "I didn't mean to bother you, I was just curious."

"Not at all, dear. I'm just glad to see a nice young woman taking an interest in Master Bruce's well-being." When she gave him a curious look he explained further: "Please forgive me for saying so, but Master Bruce has a history of... Erm... Bad judgement with women."

"Bad as in... ?"

"Burglars, crazed vigilantes, and the odd ecoterrorist. Suffice it to say, I think of him as a son and would entrust him with my life, but I would _never_, under any circumstances allow him to set me up on a blind date."

Diana laughed heartily. "I suppose that that's just the type of people that we meet in our line of work. Although, I have to say that that explains quite a bit about his policy about dating in the workplace."

"If I may offer one more bit of advice, Miss?"

"Go ahead, Alfred. You know you don't have to ask."

"Be direct. Not forceful, per se, but direct. As I'm sure you've noticed, Master Bruce has an unrivaled talent for deflecting conversation. All that you can do is be aware of it, and stay focused. But remember, he rarely takes well to force, and will not react well if he feels that he is being manipulated. But perseverence has its rewards."

"Thanks Alfred." She opened her mouth and let out a powerful yawn. "Now, I need to get some sleep. I still don't know how you can keep these hours on a regulars basis..."

Author's Note: Not my finest work, but a bit of banter every now and then won't hurt. I think that I'm all set up to get things on track for the finale, which should be coming within the next couple of weeks. A few more twists and turns, and we'll be all set. In other news, I've started drafting plotlines for another related project that I'll probably be starting as soon as I've finished this story. So once I get a little bit of tweaking out of the way, that should be good. Now... I have urgent business to take care of in Skyrim.

Edit: Made a mistake in the editing after the upload. So in lieu of the line that's there now, those of you who got here quickly enough saw my "INSERT BREAK HERE" note to myself that I wrote in all caps so that I wouldn't forget to fix it. D'oh.

JasonTDK: True, but you can hardly blame her for being a bit on the cranky side, right? Can you imagine a day of being Batman's handler? Not a job I'd want, I can tell you that much.


	14. Ambush

Author's Note: Right off the bat, I'm going to say that this could be a short one, at under 1,000 words. But make no mistake, there WILL be good stuff here. Or bad stuff, depending on how you look at it. But I guess it's best just to let it speak for itself.

Bruce spent most of the day in his private office, lost in thought, trying to think of potential leads that he could use to track down Hugo Strange. However hard he tried, though, he found nothing. Strange had covered all of his tracks; Bruce found no suspicious financial tracks, and as far as he could tell, Strange hadn't formed any connections to his peers, having interacted with them just enough to avoid suspicion. He was so focused on his research that he barely noticed Diana entering the room.

"Did you find anything?" She asked peering around his shoulder at his computer screen.

"No."

"But you're not giving up, of course?"

"Not a chance. I'm catching him. Tonight." Bruce said stubbornly.

"How on Earth do you plan to do that without any leads?"

"I'll find a way. I have to."

Diana sighed and closed her eyes. "Alright..." She said thinking carefully. "If you can't find any leads to _Strange,_ then maybe..."

Bruce's face lit up as she spoke. "The Joker! Diana, that's brilliant!" He began typing furiously. "Strange is using Joker and his crew as muscle for his operations that his private security can't handle alone. If I can find some of his old crew members who might be in the loop, they could lead me to the Joker _and_ Strange!" He was frustrated that he hadn't thought of it first, but was too excited by the new lead to care very much. He forwarded his list of at-large Joker associates to his cowl's computer and quickly stood up. "Brilliant!" He repeated, kissing Diana on the cheek as he rushed over to the grandfather clock that concealed the entrance to the Batcave.

"Wait, Bruce."

"Hm?" He said distractedly, already entering the time that would open the cave.

"First, I want to talk."

Bruce reluctantly pulled his finger back from the hand of the clock and turned to face her. "Alright. I'm listening."

"Bruce, we've worked together for years now, and I like to think that we're good friends. But maybe we could be... Are you listening?"

Bruce's eyes had narrowed, and he was no longer looking at her eyes. Instead he was looking outside the window, where he'd notice the long, thin shape of a rope; the type of rope that one might use to rappel down the side of a tall building. Without pausing to think, he grabbed Diana's wrist and yanked her to the floor. "GET DOWN! CLOSE YOUR EYES!" He shouted. Just in time, he managed to slam his own eyes shut and cover his ear with his free left hand; as his right was occupied with keeping Diana's face on the floor, he pressed his right ear into his shoulder.

The sound of shattering glass filled the room as the shards of the window fell over the pair of them. Even through closed eyelids, Bruce could see the blinding flash of light, and the meager protection that his hand and shoulder offered was nowhere near enough to protect him from the enormous bang that echoed throughout the room. Bruce opened his eyes, but he still couldn't see; it was as though the world was covered by a white sheet. For several seconds, he was too disoriented to move, his balance having been thrown off by disruption of his inner ear fluids.

He was slightly protected by the precautions that he'd taken in covering his ears and eyes; Diana had had no such luck. While Bruce was able to recover enough to stand fairly quickly, she remained too dazed to move. As soon as Bruce's eyes had cleared up, his worst fears were confirmed; they were surrounded by a group of seven of Hugo Strange's Tyger guards. Bruce instinctively moved to cover Diana, but outnumbered and disoriented, he stood little chance.

"What are you doing here?" He asked slowly, hoping to buy himself a bit more time to recover. The soldiers weren't falling for it; they all charged forward at once, attacking from all directions. Bruce immediately noticed that none of them had drawn their weapons, instead favoring nightsticks and stun batons. Bruce managed to grab a stun baton from one of the soldiers; he gracefully swung it around, hoping to catch a few of them off guard. All of them jumped out of the way as though they'd been expecting the move. The fight was very brief, and continued in a similar fashion. Every punch that Bruce through was swiftly countered, and he was quickly defeated. While he was fighting, he heard a sickening crack; one of the guards had hit Diana over the back of the head with a nightstick, knocking her unconscious.

"No!" But he was to late; while he was distracted, he felt a splitting pain in the back of his head, and fell to the floor in a daze.

"Both targets subdued, sir." One of the guards said into a two-way radio. The voice that responded was a most unwelcome one.

"Excellent work, Captain." Said the smug voice of Hugo Strange, slightly distorted by radio static.

"What now, Sir."

"Bring her here. Make sure to sweep for surveillance equipment, and make sure that you are not followed. Leave no tracks, Captain."

"Roger that, sir."

Bruce gritted his teeth and did his best to stand; before he could get up, he saw one of the guards nightsticks swinging towards his face, and felt no more.

Author's Note: I hate to leave you guys hanging like this, so I'll try to update again as soon as possible. I don't like cliffhangers much, but this was the last stopping point that I'd get to for a while. Anyway, I'll get back on this as soon as I have time; maybe tomorrow. Also, I've _finally_ bothered to read the full text of the email notification that I get for every review, and realized that there's a much easier method for responding to reviews. So from this point on, I'm going to be using that unless the review points out something that other readers could benefit from me addressing. For example:

The Fiery Apprentice: I probably should have mentioned that Batman's back to using his standard Batsuit; the other one was just a prototype that he was using while Nightwing had the original. It wasn't an actual replica of the Beyond Batsuit; the way I'm imagining it, he was inspired by the capabilities that he saw when he travelled to the future with GL and WW, and is putting a bit of work into replicating it and using to technology to improve his (as we should see fairly soon). But it was realy just a bit of a reference to another part of the series that I'm not planning on doing very much with, like the Max Schreck reference a few chapters back (I'm not planning on including him in the future- I didn't really even like Batman Forever very much. I have no idea why I did that in the first place, other than the fact that Christopher Walken rules). So long story short, Batman's back in his standard DCAU suit, and the Beyond one won't come into play for a long time (hintedy hint hint). As for the binoculars... Yeah, I should have thought of that. At least it's not a major plot point. And I'm glad you liked the bit with Alfred, I was worried that it was a bit heavy-handed. I tried to play it carefully, but there was some stuff that I really wanted to shoehorn in before things kicked up again.


	15. The Thin Ice

Author's Note: Alright, I hate to leave you guys hanging, so I'm going to do everything that I can to get this online as soon as possible. Of course, by the time you read this it'll already be up and none of it'll matter, but... Oh well. The point is, this might be another short one, just to answer some important questions. We'll see where it goes.

* * *

><p>"Mmm... Ahh." Diana groaned as she slowly came to consciousness. She couldn't see much due to her hair falling around her face, but she didn't need to see her surroundings to know that she was in a bad position. The first thing that she noticed was a splitting pain in her shoulders; her wrists were held together behind her back by a pair of thick manacles that covered her bracelets. The chain was pulled up so high that she wouldn't even be able to attempt to pull herself free without dislocating both of her shoulders in the process. Her feet were chained to the floor with the same thick, reinforced steel that bound her hands, preventing her from moving into a more maneuverable position.<p>

"Welcome, Wonder Woman, to my laboratory."

Diana had only heard the voice very briefly once before, but she recognized it all the same. "Strange." She growled, shaking the hair out of her face. Sure enough, Hugo Strange stood before her, his hands behind his back, and a smug smile on his face. She tried to glare at him, but the round glasses that covered her eyes merely reflected her face back at here, making it nearly impossible to read him. Instead she focused on familiarizing herself with her surroundings. The room was small and sterile; the walls were a completely bare metal, and the only objects in the room were an uncomfortable-looking metal chair and a small cart. On its surface were several syringes and an assortment of pliers that were heavily stained with what appeared to be blood.

"At the risk of sounding cliched, it is so kind of you to join me here." Strange said smoothly, settling himself into his chair. "Although, given the circumstances, I am sure that you have questions. As I did for the Batman, I will allow you the courtesy of fulfilling your curiosity before we begin with the... Ahem... Procedure."

Diana seethed with rage, but refused to let the mad scientist intimidate her. "What do yo mean, procedure? What are you planning?"

"Ah, a good a place to start as any. I will be subjecting you to the same trials that I put him through. Call it a test if you will."

"You're sick." She said, piling her voice with as much contempt as she could muster. "What do you gain from this, anyway?"

"Don't tell me that you haven't figured it out?" He said mockingly. "It's quite simple, really. I seek knowledge."

"This... It's all just a game to you?" She said, feeling a nauseated writhing in the pit of her stomach.

For a moment, Strange seemed genuinely offended by her statement. "A game? Nothing could be further from the truth. This... Is an experiment. And as such, I take it _quite _seriously. I must be sure that all of my data is accurate, of course."

Diana couldn't think of anything else to say; it felt as though there were no words to describe the levels of disgust and revulsion that she was feeling. When she didn't speak Strange continued. "Naturally, I'm sure you want to know why _you_ are here, if my true target is the Batman?" She still couldn't see his eyes, but she knew that they were running over her, analyzing every inch of her body language. "But you already know don't you?" He chuckled derisively. "I assume that you know why you are here already. I know that you are quite intelligent, despite being far from the Batman and myself. Would you care to take a guess?"

"You want to use me as bait." She said slowly, the realization causing the sick feeling within her to grow. "To lure him here like you did at the Asylum."

"Hm... Yes and no." He said, stroking his beard. "Although you are correct in assuming that I am using you to test him, I have no plans of luring him to this building. In fact, I have taken the necessary precautions to ensure that he will not arrive here... At least, not until it is far too late."

"What does that mean?" She asked, despite the fact that she already knew the answer.

"As I said, I plan to inflict upon you the same tortures that I did the Batman. However, I released him relatively unharmed so that I would be able to continue to study him. However, I have no such plans for you. On the contrary, I will continue until your mind is hopelessly broken." His disgusting smile widened with anticipation. "You see, I know his ultimate weakness... His one true fear; the loss of a loved one. As he may have confided in you, his Batman persona was encouraged by the loss of his parents. Now, if you will, imagine what the loss of you will bring him to?" Strange laughed at the look of horror on Diana's face. "Another innocent life lost, and he will have nobody to hold accountable but himself."

"You're the only one to blame for this."

"Do you really believe that he will see it that way? No, of course not. Your mind will be lost to the void, and all because he couldn't control his feelings. He struggles so hard, but in the end, he lacks the strength necessary to wipe out weaknesses such as 'love' and loyalty. And I intend to show him the error of his ways. He cannot cut his ties, and he cannot protect his friends. His ultimate nightmare realized; a lover lost because of his failure. _That_ is what I truly seek. The final key to breaking his will. Either he'll finally do what is necessary, and kill everybody that stands between him and myself, or he'll lose his will to continue."

Diana mouth dropped; she simply couldn't imagine the horrible thoughts that could be motivating Strange. "It'll never work. He's better than you. He'll never sink to your level, no matter what you do to me."

"Perhaps you are correct. If so... Then I'll simply have to try again. Perhaps I'll try his young magician friend? Or maybe his old protege? You see, as hard as he tries to remain solitary, he has no shortage of allies for me to turn against him. Now... If you have no further questions, then we'll begin."

Diana shook with fury. "You're a monster. And you'll never get away with this. I won't let you."

"Oh, but you are powerless to resist. And the Batman has no way to find us here... Not for lack of trying. My men found the tracer that he placed in your hair; they also found the backup in your shoe. Clever, but you cannot fool a machine." He stood up and retrieved one of his syringes from the cart. "Now, Princess... Are you ready to embrace madness?"

Diana mustered all of her courage, and held her chin high. She stared into her reflection in his glasses for a moment, before abruptly spitting in his face. "Do your worst." She snarled.

Her defiance only seemed to encourage him. "Excellent." He said, wiping the saliva away with his sleeve. "Your spirit will make this a most interesting experiment. As we have plenty of time, I think it appropriate that we start with a small dose and build from there, don't you?"

Diana gathered her courage once more as he drew nearer, knowing that she had to hold out as long as she could. She knew that she had one small hope left to cling to, because Strange was wrong about one thing. Despite a growing numbness due to lack of circulation in her arms, she could feel a thin, spiny piece of metal pressed between her left bracelet and wrist; a shape that could quite conceivably be a miniscule tracking device in the shape of a bat.

* * *

><p>"Master Bruce!" Master Bruce! Wake up!"<p>

Bruce's eyes snapped open; he was still extremely disoriented from a combination of the flashbang and being knocked out by a nightstick to the face, but years of hard training allowed to regain his bearings quickly. As the preceding events flooded back to him, he whirled around immediately noticing that Diana was gone. "DAMMIT." He shouted, punching the floor in fury.

"Master Bruce, what happened? I heard shouting about ten minutes ago, and rushed up from the kitchens." Alfred said, sounding bewildered. "When I arrived, you were unconscious on the floor. I've been trying to wake you since."

"Alfred... They got Diana. Strange has her."

"Good Heavens!" Alfred exclaimed. "I'll prepare your suit immediately." Without another word, the faithful butler rushed off to the Batcave.

Bruce pressed a finger to his ear, activating his comms link. "J'onn. We were attacked. Strange's men took Diana."

Bruce heard furious typing as the Martian tried to seek out Diana's comm link tracker. While he waited, he began to make his way to the Batcave. Finally, J'onn spoke; "Her communicator is not responding."

"I figured as much. They'll have disposed of it."

"How did it happen?"

"They caught us off guard with a stun grenade."

"And they left you?"

"They beat me down and knocked me out. Fortunately, I had just enough time to plant a few bugs on her and myself. I'm checking them now... First one's deactivated, the shoe's the first place they'd look. Second one too... I've got them! They missed the third one!"

"How did you hide it?"

"I was counting on them not being able to get her bracelets off. I slipped it under one of them. The metal in the bracelets would protect from metal detectors, and I've just remotely activated the signal. He's using an old Cadmus research building. I've got the son of a bitch!"

"I'll assemble a strike team immediately. Come to the Watchtower, and-"

"No." Bruce cut J'onn short. "This is a stealth mission. I'll get my own team and do it my way. This is personal."

J'onn paused for a moment as though he was considering protesting, but seemed to realize that it would be futile to argue. "Very well. Signal if you need backup. Stay in contact."

"Sir, are you ready to leave yet?" Alfred said, appearing behind Bruce, Batsuit in hand.

"Yes. I just need to call in some favors..."

* * *

><p>Nightwing leapt over rooftops. He would've appreciated being back in Gotham, had he not had so many miserable experiences there. He flipped gracefully through the air until he spotted what he was looking for in the form of a dark shadow on the rood of the Ace Chemicals plant. He flipped down, landing directly in front of Batman.<p>

"Why'd we have to meet here? Why not the cave?"

"We're waiting for someone else."

"Ooookay then." Nightwing said, waiting for Batman to elaborate. When he remain silent, Dick continued speaking. "Alfred briefed me. What's the plan?"

"We infiltrate the building without being seen, extract Diana, and grab Strange if we can."

"Why don't we have backup? Some other League guys around the building? Maybe a bit of air support?"

Batman shook his head. It's too risky. Our only hope is that he plans to keep her alive for torture; if he sees any unusual activity around the building, he could kill her." The thought alone was enough to make Batman's spine shiver. "We can only fly in so close to the building, then we'll have to go in on foot."

"Sounds like a blast." Nightwing rocked back and forth on his heels impatiently. "Alright, this is killing me. Who else are we taking? It has to be someone you'd trust... Can't be Superman, he'd be here by now... Not too keen on the stealth... You would've brought Robin... He's too green for this anyway... Come on, just tell me!"

"She'll be here soon."

"She?" Nightwing asked curiously. Suddenly, his eyes widened behind his domino mask as realization dawned on him. "Oh, you didn't!"

"I had to."

"You know we can't trust her! Why her?"

"We need to get in there without being seen. And she's the sneak I know."

"Flattery will get you everywhere, Batman." A woman's voice issued from behind Nighwing, causing him to jump and draw his weapons.

Behind him stood an attractive woman in a skintight leather catsuit that covered most of her body. Her head was wrapped in a leather hood that had two extensions resembling cat's ears on top, and her eyes were covered by a pair of red-tinted goggles.

"Did I scare you, birdy?" Catwoman said, swinging her hips as she slinked past him to approach Batman. "It's alright, I'm not out to hunt tonight. As a matter of fact, I was planning on taking the night off... Until I got an interesting call."

"My sources say that you were planning to hit Salvator Moroni's private vault tonight." Batman said.

Catwoman shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe you and I have different definitions of taking the night off." She drew herself up to within an inch of her full height, so she was within an inch of his face. "Or maybe not?" She whispered flirtatiously. "Either way, are you going to tell me what I'm doing here?"

"There's not much time. The bottom line is that a madman is holding Wonder Woman hostage, and we have to get into his building and get her out without being seen."

Catwoman pulled back and turned away dramatically. "You know, you have some nerve asking _me _of all people to help you rescue your girlfriend. Why should I help you?"

"Because you're not just a criminal. You have a conscience." Batman said quietly, deactivating the cloaking devices that hid the Batmobile on the street below."

Catwoman sighed in exasperation. "Fine. But _ you owe me."_ She peered over the edge of the building at the Batmobile. "You know, I've always wanted to ride in this thing without being in handcuffs. Although..." She thoughtfully scratched her cheek with a clawed glove. "The handcuffs aren't so bad when you get used to them. Shotgun!" She jumped over the edge, landing neatly on all fours.

Nightwing looked incredulously at Batman. "What the hell are you thinking? She's _insane._Completely bonkers. Not to mention a thief and a liar."

"And that's exactly why she's our best shot at getting Diana back alive." Batman said, following his feline companion over the edge.

Nightwing shook his head in disbelief. "How do I always get wrapped up in these things?"

* * *

><p>Author's note: So it turns out that <em>wasn't<em> a short one after all! I really had a good time with this one, even though I was in a weird mood (I did the Namira sidequest in Skyrim today- enough said). First of all, another chance to explore Hugo Strange's sadistic side is always fun. And believe me, he's not done. Also, Nightwing and Catwoman are fun characters to write. Wisecracks aren't my specialty, but she has that special, confident, slightly hyperactive neuroticism that's fun to write anyway. Long story short, this one took relatively no time at all. We might not be so lucky with the next one, but we'll see. If it's anywhere near as easy as this one, it should be up by tomorrow. If not, then... Well... It won't. Until then, (whenever 'then' is, of course), Narf out.


	16. Emergency Extraction

Author's Note: Alright, are you guys ready to see some crazy speed-writing? I'm going to do what I can to get this up soon, but I have a paper due Wednesday afternoon that was just assigned today, so it could take a bit of juggling. But this could be the last chapter for couple of days. I'll elaborate more on that later, though. If it's not too much trouble, please leave a review and tell me how I'm doing; I'll love you forever.

Diana struggled with all of her might, but no matter how she tried, she could feel the panic and anxiety beginning to set in. Her breath became ragged, and she began to feel herself losing control. To make things worse, Strange was still standing in front of her, incessantly taunting her.

"Most interesting... You are holding up quite well... Possibly even better than the Batman." He said scribbling notes on a piece of paper. "I have no doubt that your Amazon blood is responsible... But I wonder how, exactly? Perhaps your strength provides resistance to toxins and chemicals? Or maybe it is the fierce mentality of an Amazon warrior? Oh, you are quite a fine specimen. It is a pity indeed that I do not have the time for a proper study.

"I'm... Not... Afraid... Of you..." Diana gasped as the anxiety deepened it's hooks in her brain.

"That is quite easily remediable, you see." Strange said, eagerly preparing another dose. "I think that a more concentrated dose is in order, don't you, Princess?" He carefully injected the syringe into her neck, being careful not to miss the vein. "Now, while we wait for that to take effect, why don't we have a conversation to pass the time? I think that it is once again time for us to discuss a mutual fascination of ours; the Batman."

"Shut up." Diana said shortly. She couldn't help but notice that Strange's voice was sounding more and more sinister by the second, as though it were being distorted.

"A touchy subject, naturally, given the circumstances. It must bother you to be the instrument of his undoing. Despite the best of intentions, you have failed in your efforts to rescue him from the darkness that lies within him... A darkness that will soon consume him completely."

"I hope you fry."

Strange merely chuckled. "I admire your tenacity, especially in the face of such adversity. But it will not help you in the least. It would be best if you were to give in now and spare yourself the long hours of suffering. But you will realize that soon enough. Until then, we shall continue. Let us begin at the very heart of your relationship... What is it, exactly? Simple lust? No, more than that. It is my theory that you love him like a lost and abandoned puppy. You feel sorry for him. I believe that your so-called 'love' stems from naught but pity." He paused for a moment to gauge her reaction before continuing his taunting. "Regardless of it's origins, your feelings are most interesting indeed. Simply amazing how two people from such different backgrounds can meld so well. Oh yes," He laughed at the look of surprise on her face. "I know all about your history on Paradise Island."

"You don't know... Anything... Abou... About... Me... Or him..."

"Oh, but you could not be more wrong. I know nearly _everything_ about you and him, which is why I am able to see the irony. Just think... Rage and love. Don't you see? You were both born into luxury, but took completely opposite paths. And yet... You both ended up in the same place, fighting for those not capable of fighting for themselves. Truly amazing, no?" He grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to look at his wretched face. "Wonder Woman, born from the love of a mother so desperate for a child that she fashioned one from clay. And the Batman, born out of a child's rage at a world that so cruelly took away everything that ever mattered to him. Rage and love... Yin and Yang. You could almost say that there's a bit of poetry to it." He let go of her chin, allowing her face to fall once again. "Alas it was not to be. Or should I say, it could not be. You should have realized that by now. All the time you've spent with him, and you've never noticed anything... Stunted? No, of course not. Because you, like so many others, have blinded yourself to the unpleasant truths. You've deluded yourself into thinking that he's capable of petty emotion. But this is mere fantasy, and you have me to thank for opening your eyes to reality.

"You're... Wrong." Diana croaked, feeling fainter.

"We shall see soon enough, I believe." Strange said confidently. "However, I think that I have obtained enough data from you. It is time to hasten the process. Am I correct in saying that the hallucinations are setting in? There's no need to answer. I can see it your eyes... You are beginning to question reality. This is good. These doubts are the seeds are madness. Your time grows nearer... My plan has nearly come to fruition. After so many years of work..." He looked up for a moment, relishing his apparent victory. "But now is no time to lose focus. Now is the time to put the final pawn in it's place." He reached into his pocket and withdrew a long black piece of cloth. " In all of my studies, I have learned that the most effective way to sow fear is through controlled manipulation of the senses." He wrapped the cloth tightly over her eyes so that she couldn't see anything. "To create true terror, one must strip away familiarity completely, leaving nothing but fear. Now... We begin phase two..."

* * *

><p>Batman landed the Batwing a safe distance away from Strange's hideout, in the middle of a large barren desert. Nightwing jumped out first. "Aw, man... We couldn't get any closer?" He grumbled, eyeing the building that looked like a speck on the horizon.<p>

"No." Batman said. "Any closer and I can't guarantee that the ship's cloaking devices will be effective. Now get back here. We need to establish a plan." He reached into the plane's console and withdrew an extra earpiece, which he handed to Catwoman. "This'll let you keep in contact with us and our guide." He explained, activating his own transmitter. "Oracle. We're here. Did you manage to get the building's schematics?"

"I had to break through about a million different levels of encryption, but I think I have it." Oracle's voice said. "Granted, this won't account for any modifications that Strange's made since he started using it as a base."

"Thanks, Oracle. We'll take what we can get. If we're careful, a floor plan should be enough."

"Right. I'm sending it to the Batwing's onboard computer now." As she spoke, the navigation computer on the plane's dashboard lit up, displaying a map of the building.

"Neat." Catwoman purred, eyeing the computer. "You boys have the coolest toys..."

"Don't get any ideas." Nightwing said abruptly. "What's the plan?"

Batman took a minute to analyze the map before speaking. "My tracker readings show that Wonder Woman is somewhere in the research labs. So we'll split up." He pointed at the map. "This ventilation shaft should get us in. When it forks, I'll go after her and Strange. I need you two to branch off West to the guard barracks and take out as many of the guards as you can without being heard. Hide the bodies, use sleeper holds, do whatever you need to. But _don't be seen._" He began selecting the gear he thought that he would be most likely to need. I'm counting on you to thin down his forces enough to let me have a fair shot at Strange without being interrupted." He finished, clipping a black box about the size of a book to his belt.

"Sounds simple when you put it that way." Nightwing said sarcastically. "Almost fun, really."

Batman ignored him. "Nightwing. You can get the map linked to your mask, so you're on point. When you're down, you can get out through the sewage maintenance tunnels."

"Terrific. Tonight just keeps getting better and better. You're lucky I like you. Or at least that I like Diana." Nightwing paused to think. "Say... How are you planning on getting out? It's not like you'll be able to just go the stealth route again..."

"It depends on what kind of shape Diana's in. Ideally, we'll be able to just punch a hole in the ceiling and fly out. If not... I'll find a way. It depends on what kind of security he has at his disposal."

"If you two are done talking," Catwoman cut in, "Kitty wants to play. I didn't come all this way to stand around in the middle of a desert after all." She backflipped away in the direction of the building.

Nightwing raised an eyebrow as he and Batman began to sprint after her. "You're positive that we can trust her?"

"To be honest, I'm not." Batman admitted. "But _you're_ the one who has to count on her to watch your back, so I'd get over that fast if I were you."

As they got closer to the building they noticed that the ground was covered with a thick, metal plating that stretched the length of two football fields. Batman activated his scanners to analyze the metal. "These plates are designed to carry an electric current. It's hard to say how much exactly, but I'd bet that it's more than enough to kill any of us."

"Got a backup plan?" Catwoman asked, leerily stepping away from the panels.

"We don't need one. The sensors are inactive. It looks like most of the building's security is down. Smart, really. He knew that we would've taken a closer look at Cadmus buildings, and having security reactivated would've drawn attention to this one. Luckily we know more that he thinks. Let's move.

The trio silently approached the building, closing in on a ventilation shaft that was hidden in the side of the wall. Batman fired his grapple gun at it and pulled, silently yanking the cover off it's hinges. He caught the cover before it hit the ground and carefully leaned it against the side of the wall. He fired the gun again, this time pulling himself up to the shaft. Nightwing followed suit, and Catwoman climbed up behind him, using her sharp claws to scale the wall.

They crawled along the shaft for a short distance until they came to the fork that Batman had pointed out on the map. "You know what to do." The Dark Knight whispered solemnly. "I'm counting on you."

Nightwing nodded and took the turn; Catwoman gave a small salute and followed him. Batman took the right path, alone once again. Although it couldn't have been more than ten minutes, the tunnel seemed to continue forever. It seemed to Batman that for every second that he was delayed, he was letting Diana down.

Batman maintained a steady pace in order to give Nightwing and Catwoman time to do their job, until the silence was broken by a chilling sound. Batman froze in his tracks to listen closely; he could hear a muffled screaming directly ahead. "Nightwing. Check in." He growled into his earpiece.

"Six down. Thermal readings show this wing is nearly clear-" Batman heard a snarl like an angry cat on the attack- "Ok, clear. We're moving on to the next one."

"No. Leave now. I'm closing in now."

"You sure?"

"Go."

"Alright then. We're moving out."

Batman finally reached the ventilation shaft's exit into the lab; he found himself peering down from the ceiling over a fan, giving him a perfect vantage point. His blood boiled as he took in the details of the room; Diana was tightly bound, blindfolded, and gagged on one side of the room. However, Hugo Strange was barely a foot away from her; Batman wouldn't be able to make a move without risking her safety. Feeling desperation mounting as she squirmed pitifully, he searched the room for something that he could use as a distraction. His eyes landed on a radio on the far side of the room. It was playing eerie noises such as screams and moans, no doubt to intimidate Diana and act as a catalyst for Scarecrow's fear toxin. Not wasting any time, Batman pulled a signal jammer from his belt. He fiddled with the knobs, homing in on the radio's bandwitdth, and set it to overload. With a loud popping noise, the radio began to smoke.

"Hm?" Strange murmured, moving to examine the busted radio. As soon as he'd safely passed under the shaft that Batman was hiding above, the Dark Knight kicked down as hard as he could, sending the fan crashing to the floor. He dropped down, and was satisfied to see a new look on Strange's face as the mad scientist whirled around: surprise. Batman took advantage of Strange's shock drawing back his fist and releasing a mighty blow to the chest, knocking Strange to the floor. With the scientist safely incapacitated, Batman busied himself with untying Diana. He tenderly placed her on the floor, where she continued to tremble fitfully. He withdrew a syringe of his own from his belt, carefully injecting into her neck.

"Oracle. I've got her." He said, relief flowing through him. "She's safe. I've given her the anti-toxin for Scarecrow's poison, and it looks like she's calming down."

"Thank God." Said Oracle, also sounding relieved. "Nightwing and Catwoman just made contact; they're out. Now you two get out of there, and we can send in reinforcements."

"Not yet. I've got one more thing to deal with."

"Alright, but make it fast. I've got a bad feeling about this."

Batman approached Hugo Strange, who was lying on the floor, gasping for breath. However, he no longer looked distressed; on the contrary, he looked rather triumphant. "You... You never fail to impress, do you?" He wheezed. "Months of planning, and you still manage to surprise me... Most impressive indeed."

"It's over, Strange. I'm taking you back to the Watchtower."

"I'm afraid that I cannot allow that, Wayne."

"I'm afraid that you're not in any position to refuse."

"Oh, but I am." Strange grinned a chilling grin. "You see, I was not expecting you to arrive here... But that does not mean that I didn't plan for it." He pulled a small switch from one of the pockets of his lab coat and flipped it. "You see, My off-site auxiliary guard will be here momentarily. A guard that, may I remind you, is specifically trained to fight you. I went through great lengths to train them. All memories of their childhood; their families, gone. But to such great effect... Quite literally, all they know, is how to fight _you_. I'm sure you remember you last encounter tonight?"

"I'll take my chances."

"An admirable sentiment. But you have no idea of the true stakes. I have taken the liberty of rearming this facility's security features; in addition, the entire building will detonate in less than ten minutes. Now... You may be willing to risk your own life to bring me to justice... But what about hers?" Strange pointed at Diana, he was lying unconscious on the floor. "If you are confident that you will be able to make it in time with both myself and her in tow, then by all means, continue. Otherwise, your options are to leave me here... Or to kill me now." He coughed weakly and laid his head on the ground, a smug smile etched on his face.

Batman tried to work out a way around the situation, but couldn't. It came down to Strange or Diana, and there was no question at all about which he had to choose. He grabbed Strange by the collar, punched him in the face hard enough to knock him out, and roughly threw him back on the ground. He then retrieved Diana, slinging her over his shoulder, and barreled out the door. He charged through hallways, keeping his eye out for Strange's reinforcements. He ducked around corners, until he heard voices around the next hallway; "He's gotta be around here somewhere.. There!" Batman ducked into the nearest office doorway, and slammed it shut behind him. Realizing that he had no choice, he retrieved a handheld laser from his belt and ran it around the doorframe, welding the door shut. Leaving the soldiers to pound at the sealed door, he once again turned his attention to escaping.

Realizing that he was trapped in the room, he placed Diana on the office chair and gently shook her shoulders, hoping against hope that she was still strong enough to wake up. "Come on, Princess." He muttered urgently. "You need to wake up!"

Very slowly, she opened her eyes, and leaned in to kiss him. Batman was so relieved to see her moving that he didn't resist. For a moment, nothing mattered except her and the sweet taste of her lips. He suddenly pulled away. "Not now. We need to get out of here."

"How come we can only seem to do that behind enemy lines?" Diana asked groggily.

"It's a heat of the moment thing. Probably my fault. Can you fly?"

"I... I think so. I just need a minute."

"Make it a quick one. This building's going to blow in three."

Her eyes snapped fully open. "Alright, I'm ready. Where do we go?"

"Through the roof and away."

"Gotcha." She wrapped an arm around his chest, lifting him off of the ground as she began to levitate. "You're going to want to put your head down." She charged upward, smashing through two floors to get out the ceiling. However, as they crashed through the roof, Batman saw a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye.

"UP! FAST!" He shouted. The wind roared in his ears as Diana picked up speed. Machine gun fire echoed below them; just in time, Batman pressed a button on the black box on his belt, activating a small, circular aura below them.

Batman peered down through the aura; a previously hidden turret had appeared on the rooftop, and was still firing at them, despite the fact that the purple aura seemed to be absorbing the gunfire..

"This isn't good." He muttered.

"It's a good thing you had this... Whatever this is."

"It's a mobile force shield generator. And it won't do us much good. It's a lot of bulk and not much bang."

"What does _that_ mean?" Diana asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"For one, it's not portable once it's activated, so it won't offer us much more cover. Two, with that caliber gunfire, I'd say the shield has about another minute left."

"So if we move, we're dead, and if we stay, we're dead in a minute?"

"That's the gist of it."

"What do we do?"

Batman thought for a second. "We confuse it. I'm willing to bet that it functions by tracking heat signatures. The second I shut this down, you're going to drop me."

"I'm not seeing how this gets us out alive."

"It's tracking us as one heat signature right now. When we split into two, it'll have to decide which to go after. Those few nanoseconds should give you an edge when you rush it and take it out."

"And then you're street pizza. See the flaw here?"

"You can't deflect it's fire with your arms tied up carrying me. Besides, would I go through with this if I didn't have a good plan?"

"Yes. You would. Because that's exactly the kind of self-sacrificing jackass you are."

"Get ready. We move in ten seconds."

"I mean it. If you don't have plan, I'll kill you."

"If I don't have a plan, you won't have to worry about that." He said grimly. "Disabling... Now!" The aura vanished; Diana reluctantly let go, causing Batman to fall into a nosedive. _'I really wish that I'd thought to field test this beforehand...'_ He thought to himself. _'No time like the present, I guess.'_

He grabbed the edges of his cape and pressed two fingers on each hand into the palms of his gloves; just as he'd hoped, the cape stiffened, catching the wind and allowing him to pull out of his nosedive and into a graceful glide. He heard the promising sounds of metal being smashed, and the gunfire stopped. Before he knew it, Diana had swooped down above him, wrapping both arms around his chest.

"I swear, of all the crazy stunts that you've pulled..." She muttered, sounding frazzled. "Since when can you fly?"

"I can't. It's more like hang gliding. I've been waiting for an opportunity to test it."

"When we get back, you and I are going to have a serious talk about unnecessary risk taking... Among other things." She added thoughtully.

There was an Earth shattering crash as the Cadmus building burst into flames. Diana looked over her shoulder, surveying the damage. "Do you think that Strange was still I there?" She asked hopefully.

"Not a chance in hell." Batman said, watching the dust clear.

Author's note: Holy crap, that was a long one. Two long chapters in two days; hopefully this makes up for the next few days of _no_ updates. I'll get back on it as soon as I can, but I have other things to do, and I still have some details to work out before I continue. So I will see you cool cats when I get back, and until then, I hope that these last two chapters are up to snuff.


	17. Conspiracy

**Important Author's Note:** This story is moving into its final phase. As I've implied in the past, I have plans for a sequel. So... To see if I can gauge interest, I'm thinking I might offer a sort of teaser if people are interested. I'm planning on writing a bit of a prequel, that I'l like to send out to some people a bit early (before this story is even finished). So if you like the sound of that, send me a message or leave a review and I'd be happy to get that to you. I can guarantee virtually no spoilers for this story, so don't worry about that. It's really just a bit of fun.

Hugo Strange stumbled into his secondary hideout, supported by his head guard and followed by the rest of his troops. The Captain gently eased him down into a chair. "Are you alright, Sir?" The soldier asked standing at attention.

"I am fine. But my plan has failed. You were trained to stop the Batman. And your men have failed in that mission."

"I'm sorry, Sir, but it wasn't him! It was Catwoman! They didn't stand a chance, she doesn't move like him at all!"

"No excuses, Captain." Strange reprimanded. "You know my policy on failure."

"I... Yes Sir." The guard bent down on one knee and bowed his head. Strange picked up a pistol from a nearby table and pressed the barrel against the back of the man's head.

"Normally, I detest such meaningless demonstrations of brute violence," he said, twisting the gun against the soldier's head, "but alas, examples must be made." He pulled the trigger, instantly killing the man and splattering blood and grey matter over his lab coat.

"Pardon me, Sir," one of the guards said, nervously stepping forward. "But what do we do now? We've failed to kill Wonder Woman."

Strange scratched his beard thoughtfully. "I do not think that she will be a problem. I see no reason to adapt our plans. His inclusion of the Catwoman was... Unexpected, but it does not change circumstances in his favor... Quite the contrary, I believe that this my work to our advantage. Tomorrow, we move on to phase three as planned. Make the preparations."

* * *

><p>When Diana woke up the next morning, she was less than surprised to see that Bruce wasn't in the bed next to her. She didn't remember everything that had happened the previous night (she'd returned to the manor and immediately collapsed from exhaustion), but she remembered enough to know that she and Bruce had a lot to talk about, meaning that he'd be nowhere to be found.<p>

Sure enough, he managed to elude her for most of the day. She didn't manage to find him until later in the evening, when she could exploit his well-established nightly routine. She managed to corner him in the Batcave, where he was sitting in his chair, his eyes closed and his fingers pointed under his chin.

"I should've known." She said, approaching him from behind. "You would practiced brooding down here."

"I'm thinking." He said gruffly.

"What are you thinking about?"

"A lot."

"Mhm. The rest of us call that 'brooding.'"

"Do you need something?" He said dully, opening one eye.

"As a matter of fact, I do. It's time that we talked. About us. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

"What do you mean 'us?'"

Diana sighed. "The hard way it is, then. I mean that-"

Bruce held up a hand to stop her. "Hold that thought. The Batcomputer's picking up a news report.

"Of course it is." Diana groaned, rolling her eyes. "How convenient."

Batman ignored her, instead activating the Batcomputer's live newsfeed. An attractive woman with pin-straight blonde hair appeared on the screen, standing in front of a smoking building.

"This is Vicki Vale reporting live from the Gotham City Industrial facility, where a blaze broke out about an hour ago in an unoccupied employee housing complex belonging to the Sionis Corporation. Early reports indicate that the fire may be the work of notorious serial arsonist Garfield Lynns, alias Firefly, and-" She paused for a moment, listening to the earpiece that fed her information. "We have breaking news: Lynns' body has been found in the building, evidently murdered. Sources from within the Gotham City Police Department report that-" Vale's jaw dropped, and she stammered for a moment. "What the... That can't be right! Check it again!"

"You're on air, Vicki!" A voice hissed from off-screen.

"Er... Right." She sighed and continued. "Sources from with the GCPD report that... That Batman has been implicated as a person of interest in the murder investigation. City officials are currently calling for the arrest of the masked vigilante, claiming that he's been given too much leeway in the past, and that murder is the final straw. The Batman is urged to turn himself into the proper authorities, and any citizens with knowledge of his whereabouts are encouraged to step forward. Once again, I'm Vicki Vale for Gotham tonight, signing off."

Diana stared at him, dumbstruck. "Bruce... You didn't..."

"No." He said shortly. "One, I wouldn't. Two, if I did, they would never be able to implicate me."

"But... How?"

"I don't know. But I fully intend to find out." He said, making his way over to the display case where he kept the Batsuit.

"I don't like this. I'm going with you." Diana said, stripping off her clothes to reveal her armor underneath."

"If you must."

"Good to know that you enjoy my company..."

"It's not that, it's just..." Bruce stopped himself and busied himself with calibrating the settings on his cowl.

"Just what?" Diana asked curiously.

"Nothing. We'd better get a move on." He jumped into the Batmobile. Diana hopped in afterward, a satisfied smirk on her face.

As Batman had expected, the Bat signal was shining brightly against the evening sky, next to an enormous full moon. He swerved into an alleyway next to the GCPD building and parked the Batmobile, activating the vehicle's cloaking systems. He retrieved his grapple gun and pulled himself up to the roof of the building with Wonder Woman gliding closely behind him.

Police Commissioner Jim Gordon was standing next to the floodlight that was the source of the signal. As he was facing the other direction and looking over the opposite edge of the building, he didn't notice the pair until Diana coughed softly. Gordon jumped slightly and whirled around, a hand on his weapon.

"Geez, it's just you... You're late."

"I just saw the news." Batman said. "We need to talk."

"You're damn right about that." Gordon said grimly. "You picked a hell of a night to bring your girlfriend along." He said, eyeing Wonder Woman. "Not that I can blame you, I guess. Jim Gordon." He said, extending a hand."

"Diana." Wonder Woman said, shaking his hand.

"Yikes, that's quite a grip..." Gordon said quietly, massaging his hand and turning back to face Batman. "Anyway, shit's hit the fan now, I can tell you that much. Care to tell me what the hell is going on here?'

"I was hoping you could tell me." Batman said.

"So you're saying that you didn't... ?"

"You know me better than that, Jim. I don't kill people. Not even sleaze like Firefly."

Gordon nodded, a relieved look on his face. "I just needed to hear it from you. But if you weren't involved, then we could be in for some serious trouble. I'm talking a real political nightmare."

"Why do they think I'm involved in the first place?"

"Somebody was filming the fire. Caught somebody that looks an awful lot like you leaving the scene. Not to mention some of your gear. I've done my best to keep it under wraps, but the footage could break at any time now."

"I need to see that footage."

"Come on, Batman, you're a person of interest. You know I can't show you evidence." Although..." He tugged on his mustache thoughtfully. "If... Hypothetically, of course... Someone were to hack the police network, I'm pretty certain that they'd be able to find it there."

"Fair enough." Batman muttered. "But you know that I don't just leave my gear lying around anywhere."

"You don't think I've tried making that case? Believe me, I'm trying to take your side, but this is over my head. You know how those blowhards at city hall are. They're more concerned for their careers. They're afraid that if they defend you and you come up guilty, they'll end up looking bad. Not to mention that you being out of the way means that they can go back to taking bribes and giving out favors without fear of a midnight visit. Bottom line, they've already sided against you."

"No surprises there." Batman thought out loud "But I've dealt with hornet's nests before. I can handle it.."

"I hope so. I've given you pretty much a free reign on the streets for years, and if you don't get this cleared up, they'll be wanting my head next. Tell me you have _something _for me?"

"I think it's connected to the incident at Arkham."

"Figures..." Gordon murmured. "All the loonies come out of the woodwork at once." He shook his head slightly. "You know, as a Gotham Police Officer, it's my duty to at least_attempt_ to bring you in."

"By all means." Batman gave one of his rare grins and held out his arms. Gordon somewhat suspiciously approached the Dark Knight and placed a pair of thick handcuffs over his wrists.

"Alright, here's how we're going to do this... I'm going to take a moment to appreciate the moon..." Gordon looked away from Batman, and up at the sky, but didn't let go off the cuffs. "And just wait for a little bit. Not every night that you see a moon like that. Bit ominous, given the circumstances..." He waited for a moment, carefully avoiding looking at the spot where Batman was standing. "You know, that's your cue to-" He finally looked over; Batman and Wonder Woman had both vanished, leaving him alone on the rooftop clutching a pair of ruined handcuffs. "Heh." He chuckled, examining the mangled restraints. "Maybe now they'll make some room in the budget for some decent equipment."

* * *

><p>"I can't believe that the people of Gotham would just tur their backs on you like that, after all you've done for them." Diana said, folding her arms indignantly.<p>

"I would, if I were them." Batman said reasonably, as he set the Batmobile's autopilot to take them back to the Batcave." Most of them don't know what I do, because I don't broadcast it. I can't operate like you and Superman. I have to work from the shadows. It's hard to strike fear into the hearts of criminals when you're making appearances at the Macy's Day Parade."

"But still... Maybe you should have gone to the police? Just to clear things up?"

"Yeah, that would've worked well." Batman said sarcastically. "'My alibi? No, I couldn't have done it, because at the time of the murder I was sitting alone in my cave underneath Wayne Manor.' No, I'm doing this my way."

"And your way is... ?"

"We start with that video." He opened the Batmobile's built in computer, and began punching away at the keys. "Their files are a mess... I think I have it." He opened the video, and instantly knew that it was what he was looking for. The video showed an enormous building, with brilliant red flames pouring out of every window- definitely Firefly's work. However, the most interesting piece came partway through- a shadowy figure appeared crouched in one of the windows. The smoke was to thick to see most of the details, But Batman could just barely make out a pair of pointed ears on top of the head, and white eyes that bore all too strong a resemblance to his own cowl. The figure jumped out of the window and launched a grapple gun, evidently similar that Batman used. Still using the smoke for cover, the figure swooped away and out of sight.

Bruce looked at Diana; her mouth was hanging slightly open, and her eyes were wide. "You have to believe me, I didn't... I couldn't have..."

"He moved just like you..." She said slowly. "I don't like it anymore than you do, but we have to consider the possibility that that really _was_ you."

"How could you think that?" Bruce asked, not believing his ears. "You know that I would _never_-."

"I know, Bruce. I know. But this is exactly the kind of thing that Strange would do. Who knows what he did to you at the Asylum?"

"I couldn't have..."

"You need to look at this objectively, Bruce. The truth is, Strange is out there, along with the Scarecrow and the Mad Hatter. That's three horrible people who specialize in doing terrible, terrible things to people's minds." She hated herself for saying it, but she knew what she had to do. "Bruce... It's just a precaution, but I'm taking you back to the Watchtower tonight for psychological observation."

Bruce didn't respond, but slunk back into his seat, looking miserable. "Bruce... It's not your fault, even if Strange did manipulate you." She reached over to hug him comfortingly. "We'll go straight to J'onn. He'll know how to get to the bottom of this.

Author's Note: This would have been up last night, but seems to be down more often than not as of late. I'm sure that this chapter is riddled with plot holes and typos, but I'll deal with that soon enough. Probably nothing glaring, but some oddities that might need cropping.

Once again, I'm going to put out a request for some input- is this getting to convoluted? I've been laying false trails and leaving subtle hints, but I don't want to lose people.

I think that we might meet another old friend next time... Any guesses who? That's a challenge, by the way. There's a painfully obvious hint somewhere here...

I think that's all I have to say... I'm a bit scattered tonight, so I might have missed something. This one was written in two parts, so it might be a bit of a headache. If anybody has trouble with any of it, just let me know and I'll be sure to fix it right up. Now... I think _that's_ everything.


	18. Revelations

Author's Note: Just a warning: This is going to be one of those 'Let's just see how things go' type of chapters. This is the first one in a while that I don't have a clear direction on, but hey, what's the worst that could happen? Let's find out.

_**As an afterthought I'm thinking that I'm going to be changing up the title, or at the very least, the summary of the story. They were both rushed, before I really had a clear idea of where the story was going, so take note. Those could be different. I'm trying to make this extra obvious so that nobody thinks that the story just vanished into thin air.**_

Edit: I'm a couple paragraphs in, and homonyms are giving me trouble tonight for some reason. Just a heads up.

"I am rather... Nervous about this procedure." J'onn said to Diana. They were standing in the private wing of the medical bay, watching Bruce through the large glass window. He'd removed his mask, and was staring at it as though lost in concentration. "His experience at the Asylum nearly destroyed him. Extracting the memory of that night would force him to relive it as well, which may not be wise... Especially considering what we may find."

"But J'onn," Diana began slowly, struggling to find the right words "we need to know if we can.. If we can..."

"If we can trust him?"

"No!" Diana exclaimed defensively. "Of course we can trust him... Even if it turns out that Strange brainwashed him into killing Firefly, it wasn't really _him_, was it? There's no way that could be his fault."

"You know as well as I do that he would not see things that way." The Martian said in a somber tone. "He sees the world in black and white. Right is right, wrong is wrong, killing is killing."

Diana sighed deeply. "I see your point. But there must be some way that you can tell without disturbing him?"

J'onn went quiet and stared at Bruce, his eyes glowing a brilliant orange. After what seemed like an eternity to Diana, he spoke up. "I see no indicators of hypnosis or brainwashing of any sort. But without having closely examined his memories of that night, I cannot be sure of what Strange is capable of."

Diana focused as hard as she could on finding a workaround, but came up empty. "Look at him!" She exclaimed, pointing at Bruce through the window; he was still staring absently at his cowl. "He's even starting to doubt himself. There must be_ something_ that we can do!"

"Perhaps I could be of assistance?" Said a deep voice from behind them. Diana whirled around, slamming the button that blacked out the mirror so the newcomer wouldn't see Batman without his mask. The stranger was wearing a long blue overcoat and matching fedora. His face was covered by a flesh colored mask that gave the impression that his face was completely flat and featureless.

"Question." Diana said aggressively. "What are you doing here? This is a closed wing!"

"I was summoned here." The Question said simply.

Diana gritted her teeth; she'd always found the Question's games mildly irritating, and she was in no mood to hear about how Stanley Kubrick had been killed by a mixed group of Illuminati mystics and IBM engineers. "By who?" She said, annoyed that she had to press for details.

"Him." The Question jerked his thumb in the direction of Batman's room.

"What?" Diana said, mildly surprised. "What does he want with you?"

"I don't know,_ Princess_, but I'll be sure to let you know. Assuming, of course that you decide to let me in."

Diana gave J'onn a sidelong glance; the Martian stared at Question as though he was staring into his very soul (which, as a matter of face, he was). He slowly nodded at Diana, indicating that Question wasn't lying. Diana doubtfully entered her authorization code, unlocking the door. Question slipped through, sealing the portal behind him.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't... Bruce Wayne." The Question began. "Although, if it's any consolation, I've known your identity for some time now."

"It's not. But I know. That's why I called you here. You see things that other people miss. "

"Hm. Indeed. I received the files that you sent..." The Question reached into his coat and retrieved a folder. "Most disturbing indeed."

"He's in my head, Question. I don't know what he's after, but whatever it is, he's getting to close."

"You're worried that he's brainwashed you into doing his bidding and soiling your... Erm... 'Good name.'

Bruce nodded. "That's the worst case scenario. And at the moment, it seems to be the most likely."

"It would appear that way." The Question said cryptically. "However, upon close inspection of the notes you took on Professor Strange, I have come up with several scenarios."

"Give me one that doesn't involve the lizard men that secretly run the government."

"Nobody ever wants to hear about the lizard man..." The Question murmured, a distinctly bitter edge to his voice. "But they'll listen eventually, they'll have to. Or it'll be too late..." Batman coughed gently. "Right, of course." The Question retrieved his notes from the file. "So... Let's take a closer look at the time that you first time that you met Strange, which seems to be the key to the whole mystery, as it seems that the motivations behind the attack were less than clear. By contrast, his second strike had a clear and focused goal; eliminate Wonder Woman, in as gruesome a means as possible. The first one though... He claimed his convoluted plan was for the purpose of 'investigative research.' However... We still do not know _why_ he went through so much trouble, when he'd already proved that he could read your movements weeks in advance. Let's set aside the possibility that the purpose of keeping you there was to brainwash you... I think that we could discover much more by investigating other purposes. Personally, I find the scenario rather unlikely. You've shown an unusual resistance to such techniques in the past... That path would be a risky one indeed."

"Alright, I'm following you so far. But how do we figure out what he's thinking? He's a complete madman."

"You see, that's where my unique expertise comes in the play." The Question said smoothly. "You've extensively studied criminal psychology, which should make this easy for you to understand. Strange is no ordinary madman; he shows all of the signs of a brilliant serial killer... Or as brilliant as such a horrible person can be, anyway. The point is, he completely lacks empathy. But this goes much deeper than a child burning ants with a magnifying glass, or even a serial murderer killing to fill a void that he can't identify. No, Strange channels his lack of empathy to achieve his ends."

"I've figured that much out for myself." Bruce said, growing impatient. "What I can't understand is what those ends are."

"That," Question began triumphantly, "is what I believe to be the solution to your quandary."

"Pardon?"

"Let me explain... What if the purpose of luring you to the Asylum and having you jump through all of those hoops wasn't to study you, or hypnotize you, but simply to rattle your cage?"

Batman blinked as realization set in. "You don't mean..."

"Yes. He's established himself in your mind as _more than a man_. Beyond analyzing with the psychoanalytic tactics that you're famous for. I theorize that the true goal behind bringing you to the island was to hide his true goals."

"It's brilliant..." Batman muttered, more to himself than anything else. "And it makes sense. He's been using my own tricks against me."

"Which brings me to my next topic... This 'new' Batman.

"You think that he had somebody impersonate me so that I would think that I was losing my mind?"

"Yes and no. I have no doubt that that was a side effect that he hoped to achieve. But I don't think that this imposter is simply another phase of the plan; rather, the core."

"Explain."

"At first glance," Question continued, opening his notes again, "one might notice many signs of a narcissistic personality disorder; the constant boasting, overconfidence, so on and so forth. However... Closer inspection reveals that all of these boasts are in relation to _you_. As a matter of fact, he seems to be completely obsessed with you, in every sense of the word."

"So... No way..." Batman said, catching on to what Question was implying. He understood, but the idea was so far-fetched... Preposterous, even.

"Strange _is_ the fake Batman." The Question finished, leaning forward dramatically. "He's _obsessed_ with the Batman. He seeks to _become_ the Batman. It all fits. He captures you at the Asylum, sowing seeds of doubt in your mind. Not to mention, he gets a rare opportunity to take an up close and personal look at your equipment while you're delirious. Then, he kidnaps and torments the closest thing that you have to a lover, weakening you for the final strike, when he'll steal away the identity that he feels is rightfully his. He's made no secret of the fact that he's spent the last few years carefully studying you, and I wouldn't doubt for a second that he was driven enough to go through the training and steroid treatments that he would to go through to match you so quickly."

Bruce closed his eyes for a moment, absorbing Question's theory. If he was right, it could explain everything. The pieces did fit nicely... Although, on the other hand, Question had a habit of seeing nice, neat lines where none truly existed. "Question... How sure about this are you?"

"I'd bet on it." Question responded slowly. "But everyone says that I'm a lunatic. So I might not listen to me if I were you." He finished sagely, exiting the room.

"Uh... Yeah. Thanks." Batman murmured under his breath. He pulled his cowl on and dashed out the door, nearly running into Diana on his way out.

"Bruce!" She shouted in surprise at his sudden mood swing. "You look better. Did you figure something out?"

"I think so-" But to Batman's surprise, J'onn held up a hand to stop him.

"Not here." The Martian said in his deep, booming voice. "Do you believe that it is safe for you to return home tonight?"

"If Question is right, then yes."

"I shall trust your judgement, then. You should not be here; you must understand, in the eyes of the law, you are a fugitive. I will assist you in any way that I can, but the Justice League cannot be seen to be harboring fugitives from justice, especially if it sends the impression that we are protecting our own from the law. I am deeply sorry, but I believe that it is best if you keep a low profile until we have this sorted out. I will get a report from the Question and pass it on to the authorities."

Bruce nodded. "I understand. This doesn't have to involve the rest of the League."

"It would be best if it did not, at this point. However, I would suggest that you take advantage of the support that we can offer before you confront anybody."

"I'll keep that in mind." Bruce said, knowing that it would be extremely unlikely given the circumstances.

* * *

><p>"So... Let me get this straight." Diana said, undressing for bed. "Hugo Strange wants to steal your identity so <em>he<em> can become Batman? That has to be the craziest thing that I've ever heard, and that includes all the garbage that Toyman comes up with."

"It's hard to argue with that." Bruce said calmly, climbing into bed next to her. He felt more confident, as though The Question had restored equilibrium to his perspective of Hugo Strange. Once he remembered that Strange _was_ just a man, albeit a cruel and sadistic one, he seemed much more approachable.

"He'd never get away with that. What about the rest of the League? We'd know that it wasn't you in a heartbeat. Even if he somehow managed to beat you, he wouldn't last a second against all of us. I'd see to that personally."

"Maybe not. Remember... He knew how to disable my suit's countermeasures. He's probably had a look at everything in my belt, including-"

"Your emergency countermeasures." Diana groaned. "Now I see the problem. Oh well... But I think that we've made enough progress for tonight." She reached over and turned off the bedside lamp. "There's nothing more that we can do tonight." She hesitated for a moment. "I love you, Bruce."

He pretended to be half asleep, murmuring something indistinct that may or may not have been 'Love you too.'

'_It's not perfect,'_ She thought as she rolled over. _'But I'll take it. Progress is progress, and that's enough for me.'_

Author's Note: Daw, mush at the end. Because I realized that it's three in the morning, and here I am writing fanfiction while wearing a Batman snuggie, so fuck it my self-respect is gone already, so there's no use trying to preserve it.

I like how this turned out; I wasn't so sure when it started, but I think I got the vibe that I was going for. Kind of a building... Building... Building... BOOM, MIND BLOWN thing. Did any of you get that feeling? Anybody see this coming? What next? I'd really like to hear some more from you guys.


	19. Checkmate

Author's Note: We could be getting really close to a conclusion here... But maybe not. I guess we'll see? Either way, leave a review if you get a minute, I love to hear people's thoughts.

Diana woke up early the next morning, only to find that Bruce had once again slipped out of bed in the middle of the night. Wishing that he would just make things easy for once, she began the trek to the Batcave. He was exactly where she thought that he'd be; in front of the Batcomputer, running tests on one of his gloves.

"Would it kill you to stay in bed all night?" She murmured, wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Just once?"

"Tonight? Possibly." He said, sounding more excited than he had in a long time.

"Alright, fine, you have my attention. Just tell me what you found."

"I'll know in a minute." He bustled around the various screens of his enormous computers, stopping every so often to enter a missing piece of data. "I've been up all night thinking about how I could confirm or deny the Question's theory. Then I thought back to Strange's base. I couldn't extract him on my own, so I had to knock him out. Remember?"

"No... I was unconscious."

"Oh... Right." He said distractedly. "Well, either way, I knocked him out with a punch to the face. So I was thinking... And I found traces of his blood on my gauntlet. Do you know what this means?"

"You need to do a better job cleaning your equipment?" Diana guessed.

"Hilarious." Bruce grunted. "But no. It means that I can analyze his blood."

"Aright, I'll bite. What, pray tell, are you hoping to find in the blood sample?"

"This." Bruce said triumphantly, handing her a sheet that the computer had just printed. "Anabolic steroids. He's building muscle mass for something... Three guesses what he's doing."

Diana threw herself into a chair and leaned back. "So... It looks like that wackjob was right... Strange is even crazier than I thought..." She mused. "I still have my doubts though. I'm not sure that it was him. Strange doesn't seem like the type to run into a burning building. He's more of the chess player type who likes to move his pawns around the board while he watches, if you ask me. Why risk his own hide?"

"Who says it was a risk?"

"Oh, I don't know..." Diana said, scratching her chin in mock thought. "Should we start with all the fire?"

"I would've done it."

"Yeah, well maybe he's smarter than that."

"You aren't looking at this the right way... At least, you're halfway there. You're right about him liking to control the game; that's crucial. But the best way to control the game is to rig it. It was a risk, for sure... But no doubt an extremely calculated one. I don't think that he showed up at that fire by coincidence; he was on the scene before I'd even heard about it. That doesn't happen without some planning."

"You think that he planned _with_ Firefly to kill him?"

"More or less. Strange helped Lynns escape, remember? I'd imagine that the murder bit was as much of a surprise to Lynns as anyone else, though."

Diana sighed. "I'm still not sold on this whole thing... He just doesn't seem like the hero type to me. What does he have to gain from all of this?"

"Obsession can work in mysterious ways. My guess would be that he's compensating for an extreme case of low self-esteem."

"He seems awfully self-centered for someone with no self-esteem. His rants could put Narcissus to shame."

"Some psychologists believe that narcissism can be a mask for a lack of confidence. Then again, you can't put much stock by those studies. The point that I'm trying to make is that he's, as the Flash would say, 'nuttier than squirrel shit.' I don't know what motivates him, but if the Question's right, then it doesn't matter. This is the first real lead that I've had about his future plans, and I intend to follow it through."

"Sure thing." Diana said dully. "Have fun, and be sure to just call if you need me to punch something, won't you?"

"Am I picking up on some subtext, Princess?"

"Bravo, world's greatest detective." Diana said sarcastically. "If you think that you're leaving me behind again, you're as crazy as he is."

"I don't have time to argue, I-" Bruce cut himself short and placed a finger against his ear. He was hearing strange noises from his comm link. "Batcomputer; retrieve comms data and playback.

The computer did as he commanded, tapping into his link to identify the source of the feed. The computer began issuing a series of feminine grunts and the occasional loud smack.

"Hey, Bats..." Catwoman's voice issued forth from the speaker. "Hope it's not a bad time, but I'm in a bit of a bad way, and I could use som- OW!" There was a final, loud thump and a moment of mad laughter.

"SELINA!" Bruce shouted into his communicator, but it was no use; the feed had gone dead on Catwoman's end. "Strange is making his move." Bruce grunted, running to prepare his suit. "That was Joker's laugh, I'd recognize it anywhere. Joker has Catwoman, and he's probably in Strange's pocket. Any second now, 'Batman' will show up and take them both out in one fell swoop."

"If you're right, then this is definitely a trap."

"I'm counting on it. But I won't be the one springing it. I'm ending this now."

Diana knew that he was right; she despised the Joker as much as anyone, and she wasn't terribly fond of Catwoman, but she knew that they were obligated to do everything in their power to save them, especially after what Catwoman had done for her the other night. "I hate it when you're right... Let's call in backup and go." She began to suit up as well.

"No. It has to be just him and me."

"Why?" Diana sputtered angrily. "Because that's the way he wants it? Have you learned _nothing_?"

"It's for the best. If he's copied the tools in my belt, he'll have a specially crafted guide to taking down half the League."

"Well, no matter what the case is... You aren't going alone. Under _any_ circumstances."

Bruce considered what she was saying. "You may be right."

"You're damn right I'm ri- Wait... What did you just say?" She said, slightly dumbfounded. "I could've _sworn_ that you just admitted that you were wrong."

"He's thinking like me... Or at least, trying to. He's in my head... So I need to get out. Look at this objectively and find a solution that way. Make sense?"

"No, but keep talking. I like where you're going with this."

"If I'm right, then he plans on killing me today..." Bruce's voice trailed off, and he stared off into space as though thinking intensely. "Probably slowly."

"Alright... That's not exactly reassuring."

"I think that we can use that to our advantage. It's perfect, really."

"Okay, I am _really_ not following you at all here." Diana said, completely lost. "Just_ how_ does you dying a slow and painful death help us?"

"He'll have countermeasures set up; he always does. It's what I would do. But while he's focused on killing me, you can wait at a safe, undetectable distance and take him by surprise. After last time, he'll be keeping a close idea on radio transmissions from the area. That'll make secure communications impossible, and give him a false sense of security."

"It's not false if we actually can't communicate, is it?" Diana said. She had a faint idea of what his plan might be, and she didn't like it one bit.

"We won't be using _radio_ transmissions. We won't have to, because what you're going to do is tap into my suit's vitals readings, wait until they spike, and then take him down."

Diana's jaw dropped. "_That's_ your master plan? Bruce, that'll get you killed! Don't think I don't appreciate the gesture of faith, but that's insane!"

"It's our only chance. We won't be able to beat him without the element of surprise, and that's the only time that he'll have dropped his guard." He jumped into the Batmobile. "Of course, you can stay here, if you prefer." He closed the car's lid, and sped out through the cave's secret exit.

"Hera help me..." Diana groaned, wondering if she'd signed on for more than she'd intended with Bruce. "The things I do..." She shook her head as she flew after the Batmobile.

Author's Note: Will Batman and Wonder Woman manage to defeat Hugo Strange? Will Catwoman make it out of her predicament alive? Will I ever just get to the Goddamn point? Tune in tomorrow to find out, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

Actually before I go, I'm going to leave another little sequel teaser. Regarding the identity of the main antagonist. He's all too familiar to the League. You may know him as a Man of Wealth and Taste. What, you thought I was going to just say it? Never. Either way... I hope you guess his name.


	20. Hook, Line, & Sinker

Author's Note: Hm... What to say... I'm not going to guarantee anything, but this _might_ end up being the final chapter of this story (with the possible exception of a short epilogue. That may or may not come at some point in the future. Then again, this could not be the last chapter at all. Rest assured, if it is, it'll definitely be on the long side. I've got a box of cheez-its and my Rush playlist on hand, so let's GET THIS DONE. PS- I swear, that no matter how tempting it gets, this chapter will not end with Diana holding a gun and having to choose which is the real Batman and which one is an imposter. Maybe as an alt ending...

Batman deactivated his comms link and stepped out of the Batmobile. "This is close as we can get without risking detection." He said to Wonder Woman, who had just landed next to him. "Any further, and we'll be in range for proximity alarms. You'll have to wait here with the Batmobile." He'd managed to trace the communicator that he'd given to Catwoman to an abandoned factory in Gotham's Industrial district; suspiciously close to where Firefly had been killed. He double-checked the information that the transmitter was still sending. "Definitely a trap. They've disabled the audio feed from Selina's transmitter, but it's still sending out a homing beacon. They're luring me in, and they don't care if I know it."

"I'm _really_ not sure about this plan." Wonder Woman said, sounding slightly anxious. "You of all people know that I'm normally not one for nerves, but Bruce... This is suicide!"

"That's the point. I'm counting on Strange getting comfortable with his advantage and getting sloppy."

"That's an awfully big risk to take, even for you..."

"Relax, Diana... Remember, I have an ace up my sleeve too, this time."

" That's the part of the plan that I'm having issues with. I really wish that your plan didn't involve me rushing in with seconds to spare. There are too many variables. What if he decides to just off you?"

"Hopefully it won't come to that." Bruce said grimly. He knew that deep down, he wasn't as confident as he was leading her to believe, but he had no choice. It was either this, or let Strange kill Catwoman and escape. "I'm not going down without a fight. But think of that as a backup plan, just in case I can't beat him."

"Right..." She shook her head, still not believing what she was agreeing to. "I know you can do this... But that doesn't mean that it's isn't the craziest thing that I've ever heard."

Batman nodded slightly, and made to get moving, only to be stopped by her hand on his shoulder. "Bruce... If this doesn't go well... I just want to say..." She trailed off, trying to find the words to properly express what she wanted to say, but he held up a hand.

"You don't have to." He took her by surprise, leaning in to kiss her. For one shining moment, all of the danger that they were about to face melted away, and nothing mattered except that she held on to him for as long as she could. But all too soon, he'd vanished as quickly as he'd moved, becoming lost among the tangle of buildings that formed Gotham City.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Bruce..." She whispered, climbing into the Batmobile so she could keep an eye out for vital spikes.

Batman wove around the enormous towers, growing ever closer to the homing signal as he grappled from building to building. Finally, he found the right building. Heat signatures showed two warm bodies in a CEO's office on the fourth floor. He landed silently on a nearby rooftop, crouching below the room so he could recon the situation without being spotted. One of the heat signatures was wriggling around on the floor; he assumed that that one must be Catwoman. The second was a tall, lanky figure standing over her, gesturing animatedly; the height and other dimensions were a close match to the Joker's. There was no sign of Hugo Strange; although Batman knew that if his suit had been copied, Strange would have the same thermal cloaking capabilities that he did.

_'Alright...'_ Batman thought to himself, gritting his teeth and preparing himself for battle. _'Showtime. No time to waste beating around the bush... It's time to be direct.'_ Not giving himself time to second-guess his judgement, he jumped off the rooftop, spreading his cape out to glide. He felt a terrifying sensation of falling, a brief relief as he caught the wind, and finally a brief triumph as he crashed through the window, landing in a neat combat roll. In one swift motion, he hurled a batarang, aiming to incapacitate the Joker. However, his projectile had scarcely made it halfway across the room before it was knocked out of the air.

The room was exactly as Batman had predicted, save one rather important detail. Catwoman was lying on the floor, tightly bound and gagged (and evidently quite unhappy about it, judging by her angry hissing), and the Joker was on the other side of the room, giggling manically. However, there was one more presence in the room; a tall figure, garbed in a suit not unlike Batman's own. Upon closer inspection, Batman could see the subtle differences that hadn't been readily visible on the grainy video that Commissioner Gordon had provided him with. The mysterious figure's suit was a much deeper shade of gray than the original, and the cowl had been reconfigured so that it covered his entire face. However, the most apparent change was in the lenses that covered the eyes; the stranger had abandoned the original design in favor of circular mirrored lenses that gave the impression of staring into one's very soul. The result was rather alarming; his face was entirely featureless, with the exception of those horrible, shiny eyes.

"Greetings, 'Batman...'" As soon as the figure spoke, it was obvious that the Question had been correct. Strange's voice came through as a muffled hiss, as though he were speaking through some sort of gas mask, but it was clearly him. "Finally, you have arrived, and we can begin at last." Batman could hear a disturbing impatience in his voice that hadn't been there before. "I have waited so long... And now... I am so close..."

"Not as close as you might think." Batman growled, charging forward with an elbow extended. As he'd feared Strange hadn't been simply boasting when he claimed to have memorized every technique at Batman's disposal. He was able to sidestep as easily as if Batman had told him what he planned to do in advance. Batman feigned a punch with his right hand, aiming for Strange's chest. Strange easily blocked, and just as effortlessly parried the right hook that Batman had been preparing.

Realizing that he'd never win if the fight kept going that way, Batman opted to change his tactic to go on the defense. Strange's jabs weren't quite as powerful as Batman's, but they were practiced and well placed enough to have the same effect. Batman felt each strike getting closer and closer to hitting it's mark, and knew that he wouldn't be able to hold off much longer at this rate.

Meanwhile, the Joker had settled himself in an office chair, propping Catwoman up against the wall so she could better see what was going on. He'd produced a bag of popcorn that he'd stashed in the desk, and seemed be thoroughly enjoying himself. "You can do better than that, Bats!" He shouted, waving a fist in the air. "Come on! If the back of your head isn't touching your tailbone, then you're not trying hard enough!"

Batman knew that he was outmatched; Strange had had god knows how long to train specifically to fight Batman, whereas Batman had only discovered that Strange had the slightest combat experience.

After what seemed like forever, Strange finally managed to break Batman's guard with a well-timed punch to the chest. He followed with a solid hit to the face, and before Batman knew it he was on his back on the floor. He saw Catwoman's eyes widen with shock, and he could have sworn that he even saw a flicker of surprise on the Joker's face. Before he could stand again, Strange had pinned his shoulder's down with his knees.

"So long... For years I have awaited this very moment..." Strange murmured, sounding as though he hardly dared to believe his eyes. He slowly reached down with one hand, and began to press on the Dark Knight's throat.

"Ooooh, I can't watch!" The Joker squealed, covering his eyes. "You'll tell me when it's over, won't you?" He peeked at Catwoman between his fingers. She stared daggers at him for a moment before turning her full attention back to the horrifying sight before her eyes.

Strange reached out with his free hand and slowly lifted Batman's cowl. "Years of hard work... And finally, I can reap my reward. I shall purge Gotham of all the scum and filth that you've encouraged with your charade. You can rest peacefully knowing that Gotham is safe in my hands. Now... I shall watch the life drain from your eyes, as a new era begins." Perhaps it was just a trick of his imagination, but Batman could have sworn that he saw the longing in Strange's reflective eyes as his surroundings grew progressively darker. Despite his fading consciousness, Batman had to struggle to keep the triumph from showing on his face; Strange's attention was entirely focused on him, to the point that he didn't notice a distant whistling from outside. As blackness closed in over Batman's eyes, he suddenly felt the pressure lift from his throat.

Author's Note: Awkward cutoff point, but that's the way it goes. It'll actually work out for the best; what I did was cut and paste the rest of the unfinished chapter into another document, which I plan to upload when it's finished later tonight. Until then, this'll have to do. My only concern is that last time I posted two chapters in such a short period of time, a lot of people completely missed the first part. That would be bad, because assuming you've read this chapter,which you have; unless you're the type of person who reads the author's end comments before the chapter, in which case, I like your style. But I digress. I had a point that I was trying to make... Either way, coming soon... **THE FINAL COUNTDOWN BEGINS!**


	21. Molossus

**ATTENTION: IF YOU ARE READING THIS ON 2/22-23/2012 IT IS RECCOMMENDED THAT YOU MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE READ THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER BEFORE READING THIS ONE. THE LATEST UPDATE CONTAINED 2 CHAPTERS POSTED WITHIN HOURS OF EACH OTHER. ALSO, HAVE MOLOSSUS ON CUE FOR THIS ONE.**

Strange was lifted and thrown across the room by the force of Wonder Woman's tackle; he slammed into the wall, falling to the ground in a heap. The Joker leapt out of his seat, sending his popcorn flying all over the room. "Bravo!" He shouted enthusiastically, wildly clapping his hands. "Encore, encore!"

Wonder Woman crouched on the floor next to Batman and pulled his mask back on, carefully shielding him from the Joker's view. She tenderly lifted him into a sitting position, placing two fingers on his neck to make sure that he had a pulse. "Are you alright?"

"I'll make it." Batman grunted, massaging his neck. "What took you?"

"You're welcome." She said, rolling her eyes. "Some things never change."

Her banter was interrupted by a quiet chucking from the corner; even after being tackled and thrown into a solid wall by an Amazon warrior, Strange was still laughing. "Interesting... Most intriguing indeed." He said, doing his best to righten his position despite several cracked ribs. "I never would have guessed that after all you'd been through that you would have risked her safety. And of course, you had no protocols to counter her on your belt... You've been blinded by affection." He chuckled again... "But don't think that I'm above appreciating the irony... My plan was foiled because I _over_estimated you... But it will not happen again. Mark my words."

"No, it won't." Batman agreed, standing upright. "This isn't something to be coveted... The very fact that you want it so badly... Makes you unworthy. It's over, Strange."

"Poignant... But not... Quite... True." Strange groaned. Before either of the heroes could react, he'd pressed a button on his belt, releasing a cloud of thick grey smoke.

"DON'T BREATH IT!" Batman shouted, tossing Diana a gas mask from his belt, and pressing one onto his own face. "I can't see him. The gas is blocking all thermal signatures.

"I've got an idea." Wonder Woman said, her voice muffled by the mask. "Stand back."

There was an enormous crash, and a large chunk of the wall fell away, causing the gas to dissipate. Strange, the Joker, and Catwoman were all missing.

"This way!" Batman gestured through the open door. They barreled out into the hallway; Batman could just make out three distinct heat signatures at the end of the long passage.

It soon became evident why Strange's heat signature was showing up on Batman's scanners; he was lying facedown on the floor in a pool of blood. Batman could see that he was still alive, but just barely, and not for very long. His mask had been torn off, revealing a pair of small, squinty, beady eyes. The Joker was standing over him, a bloody serrated knife in his hand.

"Is there a doctor in the house?" He called down the hallway at the two heroes, who stopped short in shock. "No? Pity." He kicked Strange, forcing him to roll over and revealing a deep stab wound in the chest. "You see, maybe you should've gone to medical school like mummy said, but _no._ You just _had_ to be a psychologist. That'll learn _you_ won't it?" He cackled at his own demented joke.

"I did warn him." Batman said quietly to Wonder Woman. "Joker's partnerships never end well."

"What can I say?" The Joker grinned, holding his knife up against Catwoman's throat. "We Gothamites just don't play well with others. Do we, Bats? But really... He thought he could get away with killing me!" The Joker shook his head distastefully. "But I could have forgiven all of that, I've had more attempts on my life than I can count. Mind you, that's because of all of the times that I've nearly been killed, and not because I can't count. But he broke my one rule... YOU DON'T PEEK! How many times do I have to say it? You kill the Bat_ then _you take off the mask. Otherwise it ruins the game for everyone else. If there's one thing that I can't respect, it's somebody who tries to cheat by reading the last page first. I don't know how he found out, but I guess you I've done you a favor, eh? It's alright, you can thank me later. For now, what do you say we have some fun?"

"It's over." Diana said, advancing slightly.

"Maybe so..." The joker tossed the knife directly downward, where it landed neatly in Strange's skull. "But that doesn't mean I have to go down without a fight!" He danced back and forth with his fists raised as though preparing for a boxing match. "Put 'em up, Princess!" He taunted.

"Have it your way, then."

"WAIT, DON'T-" Batman tried to stop her, but she'd already launched herself at the Joker, fist extended. The Joker responded with surprising agility, grabbing her wrist, right on her bracelet. Wonder Woman screamed as electricity jolted from the Joker's joy buzzer to her arm. The shock would have been more than enough to kill the average man; fortunately, Wonder Woman was not the average man, and was simply knocked unconscious.

"I guess I should've warned her, I'm pretty scrappy!" The Joker said, grinning at Batman. "Ah, well... See you 'round, Bats!" He grabbed Catwoman by the scruff of her neck and pulled her around the corner, into another office. Batman swore and gave chase. He kicked the door down, and charged through office after office, following the sound of Catwoman's muffled grunting. Finally, he managed to corner the Joker in a meeting room.

"Give up now, Joker. You have nothing to gain from this."

"Au contraire, Bat-Guano. You see, I had the nicest little scheme cooked up, until Professor Stiff told me to call it off. But now that he's taken care of, things are just the way they should be... Just you and me." The Joker's smile widened showing every one of his yellowed teeth. "Oh... And her, I guess." He added as an afterthought, gesturing towards Catwoman.

Batman carefully approached the Joker, keeping a sharp eye out for traps. The Joker didn't so much as move a muscle until Batman was mere feet away. Suddenly, he flung his joy buzzer out, placing his open palm against Batman's chestplate. Batman made no attempt to stop him, knowing full well that he'd be protected by his insulated armor.

"Aw, Batsy... It's not enough to kill my figurative buzz, you have to get the literal one too... Hey, have you been working out? Not a bad six-pack, Bats! Are we trying to impress somebody?" He gave Batman a knowing wink. "You know, Bats, you and Blunder Woman really should double date with me and Harls sometime, it could be fun! Speaking of which... HARLEY! Get in here and kick Batman's ass for me!"

Batman froze, waiting for the telltale sound of the Joker's acrobat sidekick cartwheeling into the room (she was anything but quiet), but it never came.

"Oh, silly me!" The Joker exclaimed, slapping his forehead. "She's still back at the asylum! Man, is she going to be ticked!" Batman remained suspicious; the Joker still wasn't showing any signs of distress. "Can you believe me, Batsy? Forgetting my girlfriend like that... Ah, No matter! I'll just have to borrow yours!" He clapped his hands twice.

Batman's eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you-" But his question was answered before he'd even finished asking it. The was a thunderous crash, and a red blur sped towards Batman, having just crashed through the wall. The Dark Knight threw the Joker aside, managing to jump out of the way just in time. Wonder Woman ground to a halt just before she smashed through the wall. As she turned around, Batman immediately took note of the blank expression on her face and the small white tag that was propped in her tiara; telltale signs of the Mad Hatter's mind control technology. "Great. Just great..."

"You know, you really should be more careful about what you leave lying around!" The Joker cackled. "But you know what they say... One man's trash is another man's treasure!" He laughed as Wonder Woman charged at Batman, coming even closer than the previous time. "You know what? I'm actually impressed! Hell, I think I might've found Harley's replacement! Once you're out of the picture, of course."

Batman ignored the Clown's raving; Diana wasn't holding back, which was a truly frightening thought. _'Alright... First things first.'_ He thought, calming himself and establishing target objectives. He pulled out his grapple gun and aimed at the Joker; his shot was a success, clamping onto the Clown's shoulder.

"What are you doin' Bats? You can't- Ah, _fudge_." Batman yanked the cord, pulling the Joker into the path of the rampaging Amazon. She plowed through him, knocking him out and giving Batman several precious milliseconds to dodge. In the seconds that he had to spare while she readjusted herself, he wrapped the cord from his gun around the table and secured the Joker, whom he hastily tossed out the window, where he remained suspended in midair.

"J'onn, can you hear me?" Batman franitically tried to make contact with the Watchtower, but his communications were being scrambled. "Dammit. Just my luck..." He grabbed Catwoman off the floor, flung her over his shoulder and sprinted from the room. "Hold on." He muttered to his ally, taking a small device that resembled a glue gun from his belt. As quickly as he could, he used the device to draw a large circle of some sort of foamy gel around himself and Catwoman. As Diana came screaming around the corner, he double-tapped the trigger of the device, causing the gel to explode, blowing a sizable hole in the floor. The Bat and the Cat fell down to the enormous production room of the factory. Using the rising dust as a smokescreen, Batman dragged Catwoman to shelter behind a large machine. He roughly pulled off the tape that covered her mouth, and pulled enough tape off of her arms that she could begin to free herself."

"Terrific." She moaned. "This is going to take forever to clean up... Do you have any idea how hard it is to get tape residue off of leather? On second thought, don't answer that. On third thought, do answer that. In detail."

"We have bigger things to worry about than a ruined catsuit." Batman growled.

"Speak for yourself, _rich boy_. Some of us can't afford to go out and buy a new suit whenever it strikes our fancy. _Bruce Wayne_, I ask you! Gotta say, I've considered trying to rob you before, but you're at the top of my list now."

"Focus, Selina." Batman grimaced. "We have about thirty seconds before we're found by a berserk Amazon. If you want out, do it fast."

"Hmm... That or stay and fight off the most powerful superheroine on the planet... Aw, hell. I've got nine lives, I can spare one or two."

"Good. Mad Hatter's controlling her. His tech is short range, so he'll be in the building." He handed her a small handheld computer. "Use this to track the signal and kill it. I'll draw her attention, but I don't know how long I can hold her off."

"You can't just take the tag off?"

"Not without scrambling her brains."

Without another word, he hurled an explosive batarang at a wall, and jumped out behind it. Catwoman was easily able to slip out the other way without being seen. _'You owe me bigtime, Bats...'_ She thought as she scaled up through the hole that he'd made back to the second floor. _'And this time, I'm collecting. Cash.'_

As Batman had feared, the Mad Hatter's Mind control had removed all of Wonder Woman's inhibitions. She held nothing back, meaning that Batman risked broken bones with every punch. _'Focus...'_ he thought, gritting his teeth. _'There's no way that I can taker her like this, she's too strong... She's not in her right mind... Normally she'd be too smart to go hand-to-hand with, but I'll have to count on the mind-control nullifying her training.'_

Forcing Diana into hand to hand-to-hand combat proved difficult enough in itself; he was forced to stop her in her tracks by taking a blow with his left arm. The shock plates that would have held up so well against a strike from a baseball bat did little to protect him from her fury, and he felt the bones in his arm snap. _'Stay focused...'_ He repeated to himself, forcing himself to fight through the pain. His left arm was useless, but in her brainwashed state, Diana's melee form was severely lacking. He was able to fend off several punches and kicks by deflecting at the right angles, but he knew that his luck was bound to run out. "I hate to do this... He said apologetically, dodging a punch and grabbing her head. "But you aren't leaving me much of a choice. He threw her head down as hard as he could slamming it into the concrete floor. There was little effect, aside from a large crater in the concrete. _'Come on, Selina...'_

* * *

><p><em> 'Not much further... Here!'<em> Catwoman slowly pushed open an office door, and carefully slunk in. The desk faced away from the door, so she could see the numerous computer monitors, all of which showed Batman and Wonder Woman's brawl. Sitting with his back to the door was a rather small man wearing a ludicrously large green top hat. He was issuing orders into a microphone in his tiny, squeaky voice.

"Not like that, not like that!" He said; his voice had a shaky quality that made him sound rather unstable. "Crush his lungs! Don't punch the face! You'll break the cowl! Don't break the cowl! I need the cowl! For the collection! The cowl and the tiara, all mine! Oh, happy day!"

_'Sorry, Jervis...'_ Catwoman thought as she snuck up behind him. "But not today." She finished as she wrapped her arms around his neck to cut off bloodflow and knock him out. "Ok... To business." She took a look at the computer before her, and realized that Batman had neglected one crucial detail; she had no idea how to shut down the complex device. She looked at the screen and immediately knew that she had no time to go back and ask him; Wonder Woman had pushed him to the ground, and was currently obeying the Mad Hatter's order to crush his lungs. She had his arms pinned with her legs, and was pressing firmly on his chest with her elbows. "Oh, Hell..." The Cat murmured, praying for the best. "Here goes something..." She tore the outer shell off one of the computer terminals and ripped out a large handful of wire and circuit boards.

* * *

><p>Bruce heard the steady cracking of his ribs cracking as Diana pressed on his chest. Suddenly, her eyes glazed over, and her left eye twitched rapidly. Without warning, she fell forward, landing on top of him with her head facing down right next to his. "Diana..." He croaked, finding it difficult to speak. "Diana?"<p>

She stirred slightly, but didn't stand. "Argh..." She groaned. "My head... What happened?"

"A lot." Between his cracked ribs and her weight on his chest, he was in a good deal of pain, but he was too relieved to care.

"Is it over?" She asked groggily. "Did we win?"

He reached around to pat her on the back. "It's over... We won."

Author's Note: If you see anything in this chapter that doesn't add up, please contact me so I can either fix it or me it clearer; this would be a bad time for the story to fall to pieces.

Well, there you have it. I really don't have much to say about it, I just hope it's good enough. I'll be posting a short epilogue tomorrow... And that'll be it. Kind of sad, actually. It really doesn't seem like it lasted that long. Barely a month. Funny.

If you have a moment, stop to tell me what you thought of the story; I can't tell you how much I love reading people's thoughts. Not like _that_, on paper.


	22. Forever, You'll Be In My Heart

After a brief trip to the medical bay, Bruce had been declared to be in relatively good health (as good as anyone's health could be after a fistfight with Wonder Woman, anyway) and cleared to return home. Diana had sat in a somewhat guilty silence as the medic applied thick bandages to his chest and set his broken arm. She volunteered to fly him home as J'onn had decided he was most likely not up to the physical stress of teleportation. They boarded her invisible jet in silence, and remained that way for a good duration of the flight.

Diana had hoped that Bruce would say something about everything that had transpired in the past few days, but he simply leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. She could tell from experience that he wasn't sleeping, but simply gathering his thoughts. She waited for him to say something, but he never did. Finally, as they drew closer to Wayne Manor, she spoke first.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Bruce said, not opening his eyes. "You don't have anything to be sorry about."

"I was careless. I underestimated the Joker, and I almost..." Her voice broke slightly. "You almost..."

"We all make mistakes." Bruce said thoughtfully, finally opening his eyes, but still not looking at her. "The mistakes that I made with Strange probably would've killed me a few times over if you hadn't been there. You know... The point that he was trying to make was that depending on others is a weakness... But I think that he just might have ended up proving the opposite point."

"Which is?" Diana knew exactly what he was getting at, but she wanted to hear him say it.

"Maybe..." He said slowly, beginning to wonder if would regret opening up. "Maybe I was wrong. About some things."

"Like what?"

Bruce glared at her. "Don't push your luck, Princess."

"Sorry." She said hurriedly. "I just never thought that I'd live to hear you admit a mistake."

"Don't get used to it."

"Of course not." She grinned. "We're almost there. By the way..." She added as an afterthought. "I talked to J'onn while you were getting patched up. He managed to get the location of Strange's Headquarters out of the Mad Hatter. He managed to round up the Tyger guards. He said to say that he thinks that he can fix whatever Strange did to them. Hopefully they'll have forgotten all of this by morning."

She neatly touched the plane down on the front lawn of Wayne Manor, the cloaking field hiding them from prying eyes. She extended a hand to lift him out of his seat, and retrieved the crutch that he was using to walk. She carefully helped him balance himself and escorted himself to the front door of the Manor.

"Well..." She said awkwardly, "I guess that with Strange gone, the threat is over." She'd expected that when she'd finally have the opportunity to say those words that she'd be happy. On the contrary, she was feeling a bit down; she hadn't fully thought out what Strange no longer posing a threat truly implied. "So there's really no reason for me to stay here... Unless, of course... ?" Her voice trailed off somewhat hopefully.

Bruce thought for a moment. "Unless," He agreed. "Of course." He said, wrapping his good arm around her shoulder and leading her into his home.

Author's Note: And there you have it, folks. One finished story. I might be taking a bit of a break... But then again, I could be starting the next story later today. I'm leaning towards the latter right now. I have a good idea of how the first few chapters are going to go. And make no mistake, I'm planning to top this story by a long shot. I've got some ideas that I've been working on since midway through this story that I can't wait to put into play.

But now that this story is finished, I'm going to leave you with one final plea for reviews. If there are any plot holes that I didn't manage to close, or any other flaws that should be addressed, I'm all ears.

And I know that the chapter title contains a Phil Collins reference, and I'm apologetic to anybody who was deeply offended by that, but it also contains a KISS reference, which kind of makes up for that, right? Right? No? Ok...

I suppose that this is a good a time as any... So I have a bit of a confession. Some of you may find this story a bit familiar, depending on how far back you've gone in the archives... So I guess I should come clean. I've written some stories in this category before, but I was kind of feeling like a fresh start. While I wouldn't exactly call this a rewrite, per se, I did recycle some ideas. If anybody's really interested in reading the original, drop me a line and I'll send you a link. I would post it here, but I'd still kind of prefer to keep it on the down low. Call it a quirk.

EDIT: Sorry about the delay... I've had this finished since late early last night, but went on the fritz as soon as I tried to post it... Again. Anyone else have any ideas about other places where I could post? is a great hub, but it seems like they've been having some major server problems of late.


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